A woman in the U.S. has contacted Liliane Cyr, whose daughter went missing 38 years ago in Montreal, to say she thinks she may be her child.
Cyr said she received a private message on Facebook from the woman, claiming she could be Yohanna Cyr, who went missing at the age of 18 months in 1978.
“I see that I have a message on my page, my Yohanna page,” Cyr recounted to Global News.
“She writes: ‘I don’t want to disturb you, I don’t want to cause pain to you or your family but I would love for your detective, police to reach me.”
READ MORE: Montreal Police use hi-tech equipment to solve old missing person case
Cyr asked the woman why she thought she was her daughter; the woman responded that she’s not sure, she just has a feeling.
“I didn’t know what to say. I was shocked. How can that happen now?” Cyr said.
“Every time they find a kid, it’s either a runaway or death. So when it’s a kid that they found dead, bones or whatnot, I was ready for that. Any time they come and they say they found my daughter but she’s dead, I would say ‘OK.’ I was ready for that.”
The woman told Cyr that she has many questions about her past life — that her parents have never answered, including why she doesn’t have any baby pictures.
Police have contacted the woman and a DNA test is being performed to see if there is a link between the two women.
“It would be an incredible way to close this file, that’s been ongoing since 1978 and it would be a miracle,” said Pina Arcamone, director general of the Missing Children’s Network.
“The last thing we want to do is give false hope to this mum that would be hoping.”
Cyr explained both the woman, who was adopted, and her missing daughter have a Y-shaped birthmark between two fingers.
“She said, ‘does your daughter Yohanna have a mark here? A birthmark,” she said.
“I said ‘what kind of mark?’ and she said ‘a letter Y’ I said ‘OK, that could happen.'”
“I remember clearly. I have a good memory.”
READ MORE: Making noise for missing children
This isn’t the first time Cyr has been told her daughter is alive.
In 2005, Cyr received a call from police.
“They said, ‘we think we found your daughter?’ My first question was ‘which daughter? I have two other daughters,'” said Cyr, who was then told they would have to conduct a DNA test.
Police then apparently lost the DNA sample, leaving the family in limbo for months.
In the end, the woman was not Yohanna.
“The DNA results came in and it was negative and I remember sitting across the table to share the news with Madame Cyr and she was devastated, devastated for days afterwards,” said Arcamone.
“It was difficult for her to accept the DNA results.”
READ MORE: Police use ‘high-tech’ methods to solve old missing child case
Cyr insists this woman looks like Yohanna and bears several resemblances to Cyr’s other daughter.
“She looks like her, she looks like my daughter. She designs. My other daughter designs too,” said Cyr.
“So, that’s like blood. She can’t wait to pass the test to find out if we’re matched. If she’s my daughter and I’m her mother.”
Cyr said she’s going to take it slow, one day at a time.
“I really hope it is the end of my story, that that’s her and from that, if that happens, the test is positive we take it from there. See how it’s going to go and it’s not going to be easy,” Cyr said.
rachel.lau@globalnews.ca
Follow @rachel_lau