The story of the most mysterious disappearance of a child in Canadian history began July 30, 1985 in the family of Jeannette and Art Morin. At the time, their feelings for each other had cooled and they were on the verge of divorce. They were not living together. Jeannette and her 8-year-old daughter Nicole were living separately. The housing was paid for by Art.
They lived in a very modern complex in Toronto at the time that had almost everything for the comfort of the residents. The grounds themselves were gated. It was off-limits to outsiders. There was a swimming pool, covered parking, a sauna, a gym, tennis courts, and much more.
Jeanette moonlighted as an in-home caregiver for some of the residents’ children. A kindergarten of sorts. And when little Nicole asked her mother to go to the pool with a friend who was already waiting for her in the lobby of the house, her mother naturally let her go. There was a man working at the pool who could watch the kids. And the pool itself, as mentioned earlier, was on the compound. Mom had no reason to worry. The girl left the apartment and no one else saw her.
About 15 minutes later, a friend of Nicole’s who was waiting for her downstairs called her mother’s house and asked how soon Nicole would be there. Janet replied that she had been out a long time and it was strange that they still hadn’t met. Thinking that the little girl was chatting with someone in the entryway, her mother didn’t pay much attention to the moment. The girlfriend waited for Nicole some more and ended up going to the pool without her.
Jeanette sounded the alarm three hours later. Her daughter was still missing. Perhaps those three hours would have made a difference, but one can only wonder. That same day, by evening, the entire local police force was searching for the missing girl. There was one witness who said the girl entered the elevator on the 20th floor. But she never made it to the first floor. Upon inspection, it was found out that the elevator stopped once on one of the floors.
About 900 police officers were involved in the search for the girl. Volunteers took part in the search. The group working on the case consisted of about 20 specialists. Every corner of the 400 apartment building was checked. About 5,000 people were interviewed and checked. And 300 people previously convicted of sex crimes. But alas. Everything turned out to be inconclusive. The girl was nowhere to be found.
During the investigation there were several versions of what happened. One of them was an escape. A note with strange contents was found in the girl’s bedroom. It had the words: “I’m going to disappear soon. But after searching all of Toronto and the surrounding cities, the police found nothing. Yes, and it is strange where a girl could leave in a bathing suit outside the house without anyone noticing. And a lonely girl on the street could have attracted people’s attention and found herself thereby.
There was another witness who claimed to have seen a woman downstairs. She was standing in the lobby of the house with a notebook and writing something down. A sketch was made of the woman. But they couldn’t find anyone with that sketch.
This case rallied the girl’s parents and for some time they were actively looking for their daughter. Detectives were hired, a huge number of flyers were posted. The search for the girl went on in the neighboring United States. At the beginning they gave 50,000 dollars for the discovery of the girl, then 100,000. But all was in vain. Finally Art and Jeanette parted ways two years after their daughter disappeared.
A year later, the police decided to end the investigation. But after almost 30 years, the search for the girl decided to resume. Nicole’s childhood friend had lived with the idea that her friend was alive all along and decided to start the search anew.
The new team began to investigate. With the help of modern technology, they were able to compile an approximate photo of what Nicole might look like today, based on a photo of 8-year-old Nicole. They also found another witness, whose testimony made it clear that the girl was most likely not alive.
He was 11 years old at the time of the incident. And he remembers how two days after the incident, he heard the girl screaming near the place of disappearance. But the police called didn’t find anything.
In 2007, Jeanette died, unable to endure the anguish. The father put his whole life searching for his daughter and still believes she is alive and will be found soon. It’s been 37 years now.