https://www.parrysound.com/news-story/7 ... ars-later/
COLD CASE: Melanie Ethier's mother continues the search, 20 years later
Melanie went missing Sept. 29, 1996, at age 15
NEWS Jul 23, 2017 by Sarah Bissonette Parry Sound North Star
Celine Ethier at a billboard that is still up urging for the person who knows what happened to her daughter to call police in this 2011 photo. (Let's Work Together to Find Melanie Ethier/Facebook) - Facebook
Melanie Ethier Bridge
Celine Ethier on the bridge her daughter would have cross Sept. 29, 1996, on her way home from a friend's after an evening of watching movies, as photographed in 2013. (Let's Work Together to Find Melanie Ethier/Facebook) - Facebook
melanie Ethier Poster
A poster used in the continuing search for Melanie Ethier, who disappeared in 1996 when she was 15-year-old, as shown in this 2016 photo. (Let's Work Together to Find Melanie Ethier/Facebook) - Facebook
1 / 3
The Northern Ontario town of New Liskeard has a population of 4,400 and sits on the shores of Lake Timiskaming and is where 15-year-old Melanie Ethier went missing during the early morning hours of Sunday, Sept, 29, 1996. She was walking home after watching movies at a friend’s that night. Home was less than a kilometre away, but she never made it.
The community rallied to find the teenager then, and still does all these years later, as her mother doesn’t give up hope that some day a tip will come through that leads her to her daughter.
“My biggest fear is whoever did it will die and never tell anyone,” said Melanie’s mom Celine Ethier, from the hospital where she was supporting a loved one.
Just as she was two decades earlier, Celine is determined that the public knows she’s looking for her daughter and doesn’t forget her face and name.
“My biggest fear is whoever did it will die and never tell anyone,” said Melanie’s mom Celine Ethier.
A Facebook page titled “Let’s Work Together to Find Melanie Ethier’ has 4,418 members. On it Celine has posted photos of ribbons she posts on the bridge Melanie would have crossed that night and photos of posters she creates and puts around town, a video montage of her daughter and messaging to mark the anniversaries, calling on members to share her daughter’s picture and message her with any information. The most recent post is an image of Melanie’s ‘Missing’ poster on the back of a tanker truck spotted on Highway 400 on July 9.
And 20 years later the local OPP detachment has tips on her disappearance coming in on a regular basis, the case file still open and all leads investigated.
Celine woke up that Sunday morning to Melanie’s alarm clock that had been set for about 6 a.m. so Melanie could get to work at a local daycare. Celine didn’t worry at first, figuring her daughter had fallen asleep watching the movie and was still at the friend’s house.
“They were supposed to be somewhere else, but (her friend whose place she was suppose to go) wasn’t home because she had a bit of an accident,” said Celine, who didn’t have the phone number of the house Melanie had been. “So then I contacted her friend and I asked her to contact the place they were at and that’s when they said she had left the night before.”
The town’s police service began searching right away and Celine went everywhere she thought her daughter could be, spoke to the media, and created posters to ensure everyone knew Melanie was missing.
The community searched, organized fundraisers for Celine and her five-year-old daughter and ensured they had meals.
“My house felt like a big funeral for the first two weeks because I had people dropping off food, flowers, gifts. I had a lot of contact with the police, they really kept me up-to-date. I did mini-searches myself with friends,” said Celine, who said she followed up on tips and did mini-detective work.
Today the search continues. The Temiskaming OPP are now the local police and Det. Constable Lisa Laxton now the lead on the file.
The OPP don’t consider Melanie’s disappearance a cold case and officers continue to investigate new tips as they come in. And the community, said Laxton, continues to help, with businesses putting new posters up Celine makes and sharing anything they remember from that time.
Tips continue to come in on a regular basis.
“We get people walking in the detachment, we get Crime Stoppers, we get telephone calls,” said Laxton. “Someone might start by saying ‘this might be nothing, but’ maybe mentioning some stranger they know, or some odd character who, maybe in ’96 (was) living in the area (the tip giver) wishing if they can put two and two together, get the police to look into this specific person, it could be something so simple, but they feel if they don't tell the police and we don’t look into this guy; ‘what if’, they asked themselves that quite often ‘what if I didn’t tell the police and they weren’t aware of this guy in our neighbourhood. A lot of people feel they need to give the police something to work with, which is pretty amazing and is probably that small community mindset.”
A billboard with Melanie’s image remains, replaced when it wears out.
“We certainly hope we can find Melanie, for her mom and sister,” said Laxton.
Melanie had a sense of humour and surrounded herself with good people, said her mom. Melanie was doing well in school and had a ‘lovely personality ‘ that made her memorable to those she came in contact with.
“I think, in my heart, the only way to find her is if I’m given a location. To me it’s not as important to know who did it, as it is to find my daughter to give her a place of rest. In my heart I believe she deserves to be found; she should not just be out there somewhere and forgotten,” said Celine.
(Note: The story was edited Aug. 1, 2017 at 3:30 p.m. to clarify that it was a friend of Melanie's whose place Melanie had originally planned to go that night who wasn't home due to an accident.)
www.crimewatchers.net
:format(webp)/https://www.thestar.com/content/dam/thestar/news/gta/2022/04/24/melanie-ethier-disappeared-on-a-short-walk-home-does-anyone-alive-know-who-took-her/melanie_ethier.jpg)
