A 14-year-old girl who has been missing for almost two weeks has been found safe, Toronto police say, ending a massive region-wide search.
Esther, who has been diagnosed as being on the autism spectrum, disappeared from her North York home and was last seen around Bathurst Street and Hotspur Road after midnight on May 16.
Her disappearance led to a massive search operation — with a $25,000 reward offered for information on the missing teenager.
Police have said they are concerned for her safety, and last week upgraded their search to a Level 1 operation, which is the highest level.
On Thursday afternoon, police confirmed on social media Esther had been found safe and promised more information later in the day.
“I can advise that she was located in a home here in Toronto,” Supt. Don Belanger of 32 Division told reporters.
“Our investigation will now turn to whether or not there is any evidence of criminality associated with her prolonged disappearance.”
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Police would not say who was in the home when she was found, but said nobody had been arrested or charged.
Esther’s mother, Shira, who spoke to Global News hours before her daughter was finally found, said she had decided to share her child’s autism diagnosis to help inform the search.
“We decided to let everybody know that she’s autistic after she didn’t come home, and no one found her, and we didn’t get any further leads from the police or anything like that,” she said.
“I think that everybody understands that when you have an autistic child that is super smart, there are struggles that they will have and anyone who knows those kids and know those families, they already know.”
Shira said that, on the day her daughter disappeared, the family had been sharing Shabbat dinner, as they did every Friday.
“That Friday night, she was having sensory overload from nothing because she was already stressed out and already wasn’t getting all the support she needed,” she said.
“Little things were bothering her, so she is going to the other room. I’m trying to bring her food, have her relax, be able to eat, it wasn’t working.”
She said that by 11 p.m. that night, Esther had decided she had to get out of the house.
“I need to. Not like I want to, like I have a choice,” Shira explained her daughter said.
That night, Esther disappeared and wouldn’t be seen again for close to two weeks, until police located her on Thursday afternoon.
Belanger said police had worked tirelessly.
“We have been painstakingly conducting video canvases; from video canvases, we move into search mode,” he said.
“Additional video located, we move into further search mode. It’s a painstaking, long process, as you can appreciate. But that certainly contributed to us getting to where we are today.”
— with files from Global News’ Caryn Lieberman
Where ever was found those people must be charged.
Probably out getting plowed. We’ll know in 9 months
Really happy she’s ok 😊❤️
Great to hear 👍