Liliane Cyr has waited more than 36 years for information on her missing daughter, Yohanna.
For the first time Wednesday, she says she’s confident the answer is coming.
“They’re going to find something, I can feel it,” says the 57-year-old mother.
Her renewed optimism is thanks to special efforts used by Montreal Police to find her 18-month-old daughter.
Yohanna Cyr disappeared in the summer of 1978.
READ MORE: Montreal Police use hi-tech equipment to solve old missing person case
Engineering students from the Université de Montréal’s École Polytechnique are using sophisticated metal detectors and geo-radar devices to scan several feet below the surface of a parking lot in Saint-Laurent.
The lot is located next to the Saint-Laurent Recreational Centre on Grenet street.
The students are looking for a metal box approximately the size of a microwave oven.
The day of the toddler’s disappearance, police say Liliane’s former boyfriend was babysitting.
A witness told investigators she noticed the man leaving the home that night with what appeared to be a bread box.
Police believe the box contained the baby’s remains and it was likely buried in a field next to the home.
READ MORE: Mother of missing Montreal girl holds out hope after 35 years
In 1989, the field was transformed into a parking lot.
“We’re quite excited,” said Michel Chouteau, an engineering professor at École Polytechnique.
“It’s a challenge, it’s a very small object and you’ve got a very large parking lot to look through.”
The students searched the same lot back in April and discovered four points of interest.
Wednesday’s efforts will determine if the parking lot should in fact be dug up.
Montreal police reactivated the missing person case in 2011.
READ MORE: Making noise for missing children
The lead investigator in the case, Detective. Marie-Julie Durand, has a background in engineering.
“I knew there were machines that exist that analyzes the electromagnecity of the soil, I knew that geo-radar technology existed,” said Durand.
Pina Arcamone, director of the Missing Children’s Network, told Global News this is the first time in Canadian history that “earth probes” have been used in a missing person case.
Liliane Cyr is hopeful the search will bring her family the closure they are desperate for.
“That’s enough, 36 years, it’s enough,” she said as she wiped away tears.
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