Toronto Teen Girl Found Safe After 12-Day Disappearance

A Toronto teen girl who had been missing for 12 days was found safe on May 28 following a Level 1 police search in the city, the highest level of search operation, authorities said.

Toronto police said that the teen, a 14-year-old girl named Esther, went missing at 12:01 a.m. on May 16 in the area of Bathurst Street and Hotspur Road, just south of Highway 401 in North York.

She was located by police on May 28 “in a home” in the city.

Speaking to reporters at a press conference on May 28, Toronto Police Service spokesperson Supt. Don Belanger said Esther appeared to be in good physical condition.

“That said, as you’d expect, she has been taken to hospital to be examined both physically as well as for medical staff to assess what emotional toll the situation may have caused her,” he said. “Our investigation will now turn to whether or not there is any evidence of criminality associated to her prolonged disappearance.”

Asked by reporters for details about the owner of the home where Esther was found and what led them there, Belanger said that police were actively looking into the owner and that they had been led to the house by “painstakingly conducting video canvases” of the area.

Further details would not be provided, as to respect the family’s privacy, he said.

Adding further burden to efforts to find Esther was that posters about Esther, who is Jewish, were repeatedly taken down amid broader targeting of Jewish neighbourhoods by acts of vandalism.

Asked for comment on that matter, Belanger said: “I can’t think of anything more unethical than that type of behaviour. It’s absolutely ridiculous. Anyone that would make any effort to disrupt our attempts to locate Esther, nobody can ever justify that.”

Belanger said the investigation was a combined police and community effort, and that police had received numerous tips every day throughout the search.

Leading up to May 28, police had provided regular updates on their search through X, starting on May 17, and had established a dedicated phone line and QR code through which to receive tips from the public.

Belanger confirmed that a $25,000 tip had been offered by members of the community for information leading to Esther’s return, but did not confirm whether the reward would be given to anyone.

Maureen Leshem, who is a strategy consultant for the Jewish community in Toronto, and was spokesperson for Esther’s family throughout the search, said during the press conference that thousands of people had provided help with the search, including people from as far away as Hamilton and Mississauga.

“[I feel] immense relief. Just an extraordinary sigh of relief. We can breathe again,” she said.