The Nova Scotia RCMP says the search for a toddler who went missing with a woman over the weekend has come to a tragic end.
Earlier Tuesday afternoon, the RCMP initially said the 36-year-old woman was found dead but the search for the toddler was continuing.
Just before 2 p.m. Tuesday, police said the boy was also found dead, close to the woman’s remains.
“At this time, the death is not believed to be suspicious in nature; however; the investigation is ongoing,” police said in a release.
“Our thoughts are with the child’s family at this difficult time.”
Police said in a statement early Tuesday that 36-year-old Holly Cooper and three-year-old Lucas Robert Cooper were last seen at around 2 a.m. on Saturday on Ruth Falls Road, which is in the small community of the same name about 120 kilometres northeast of Halifax.
They were reported missing to police around 6 p.m. Monday.
Ruth Falls Road is near an arm of East River Sheet Harbour and another smaller waterway.
RCMP spokesperson Cpl. Guillaume Tremblay said they were found on the shoreline of a body of water close to where they went missing.
He would not confirm the pair’s relationship, though posts on social media indicate they were mother and child.
According to weather data from Environment Canada, it was lightly raining in the Sheet Harbour area around the time the pair were last seen outside early Saturday. That rain became heavy around 9 a.m., and more than 40 millimetres fell between 9 a.m. and 2 p.m. that day.
Police air services, an underwater recovery team, police dog services, the Canadian Coast Guard and ground search and rescue teams from the surrounding area were involved in the search.
— with files from The Canadian Press