Officials with the Town of Truro say that the search for a missing three-year-old has now moved to a “recovery phase.”
Dylan Ehler disappeared at 1:15 p.m. on Wednesday while visiting his grandmother in the area of Elizabeth and Queen streets.
“Dylan was at his grandmother’s residence playing outside,” said Dave MacNeil, chief of the Truro Police Service. “His grandmother became briefly distracted and turned around for a moment.
“When she turned back, Dylan was no longer in the yard.”
In a press release Thursday evening, Truro Police said that their efforts over the past 24 hours have not yielded any new clues or information.
Officials say the decision to move to a recovery phase was made in consultation with the family.
“Dylan’s family has had an opportunity to attend our command post and have been shown the area covered by searches and the extensive equipment and efforts used to find Dylan,” said the press release.
The Truro Police Service, along with the Truro Fire Department ground search and rescue, Nova Scotia’s Emergency Management Office (EMO), a police K-9 unit, a Department of Natural Resources helicopter, aerial drones, thermal imaging camera, underwater cameras and a dive team have been used in the search.
Despite moving to a recovery phase officials said they remain committed to finding the missing three-year-old.
A search and rescue team located Dylan’s boots late on Wednesday evening.
MacNeil told media on Thursday that the boots belonging to the three-year-old were found in two different locations.
“One was found in Lepper Brook, probably closer to the property that the family owns, and then one was found further down the brook, around a turn where it starts to enter into the Salmon River,” MacNeil said.
MacNeil added that one boot was found at 7:20 p.m., while the other was located just before 9 p.m.
Dylan was last seen wearing a dark green jacket with brown fur around the hood, camouflage pants and “bluish” rubber boots. He has brown hair and rosy cheeks, with one eye blue and the other green.
The search and rescue team consisting of at least 45 members is focusing much of its efforts near the waterway of the Salmon River, where Dylan was last seen.
“It’s a residential area and it’s somewhat of a low-lying area,” Truro Mayor Bill Mills told Global News Wednesday. “It’s prone to flooding, but flooding is not an issue right now.
“We’re hoping for the best.”
A localized emergency alert was issued to Truro-area residents shortly after 4:30 p.m. on Wednesday.
MacNeil says there is no evidence to suggest Dylan has been met with foul play, so a provincial amber alert has not been issued.
“In this province and in any province, an amber alert has certain criteria,” he said. “In consultation with EMO, we determined very early that this case does not meet the criteria, which is suspicion of abduction or foul play.”
MacNeil said that search and rescuers are requesting members of the community to stay home as their search continues.
“When people are untrained and they do try to help search, oftentimes they miss clues, maybe trample over evidence or maybe become a risk of falling in the ridge of water themselves,” said MacNeil.
“So we’re just asking people to show support, prayers and thoughts for the family, and not to get involved with actually physically coming on site to search.”
Anyone with information on Dylan’s whereabouts is asked to contact Truro police at 902-895-5351.
With files from Alexa MacLean and Alexander Quon.