MONTREAL 鈥� Quebec police and volunteers combed through ditches along a highway west of Montreal on Tuesday in search of a young girl believed to have been abandoned by her mother.
Rachel-Ella Todd, 34, of Montreal, has been charged with one count of unlawful abandonment of a child. Claire Bell, 3, was last seen Sunday in the city's LaSalle borough, and was reported missing hours later in Coteau-du-Lac, Que., about 50 kilometres west.
Police allege that Todd parked her vehicle outside a store in Coteau-du-Lac on Sunday afternoon, went inside and told staff that she didn't know where her daughter was.
Todd appeared briefly in court Tuesday by video conference and is scheduled to appear in person Wednesday in Salaberry-de-Valleyfield, Que., west of Montreal. According to the charging document, the alleged offence took place Sunday in Quebec or Ontario.
Wearing a maroon T-shirt and wrapped in a grey blanket, Todd didn't speak as a court-appointed attorney asked Quebec court Judge Bertrand St-Arnaud to schedule the next court date. The accused does not have a criminal record.
Outside the courtroom, Crown prosecutor Lili Pr茅vost-Gravel said the investigation is ongoing and added the Crown opposes bail due to the gravity of the alleged crime. Todd will be taken to Leclerc detention centre for women in Laval, Que., Pr茅vost-Gravel said.
Meanwhile, police searched for the toddler in several areas of the Mont茅r茅gie region, including the Coteau-du-Lac area and near Highway 30 in Vaudreuil-Dorion, where a dog that may have belonged to the girl was found dead.
Police had been on the lookout for a long-haired chihuahua with reddish-brown fur.
Provincial police spokesman Jean-Rapha毛l Drolet, on social media, said searchers would focus on the Vaudreuil-Dorion area, about 35 kilometres from the Ontario boundary.
"It's possible there are other areas that will be searched as well," Drolet said. "We will move based on the information we have."
Police have released video of Todd's 2007 grey Ford Escape, with Quebec licence plate K50 FVE and a "Baby on Board" sticker on the right passenger-side corner of the rear window. Anyone who might have seen the vehicle between 9:45 a.m. and 3 p.m. Sunday is asked to come forward.
Provincial police said Claire Bell is three feet tall, has brown hair and brown eyes, and was last seen wearing a white long-sleeve shirt with a pink collar, grey pants and no shoes. Anyone who sees the girl or has information about her whereabouts is to contact police.
Later Tuesday, police published another video to social media, addressing people who have contacted them about getting involved in the search. Drolet, in the video, said that inexperienced searchers would only slow down the work.
"We're pretty much in the same frame of mind as you. We want to do everything we can to assist the search operations and locate the three-year-old girl as quickly as possible," Drolet said.
"But currently, you should know that these operations require experts, people with training, people with supervision."
Officers were combing ditches along the highway in extremely difficult conditions, and inexperienced searchers could end up missing vital elements, Drolet added.
Some volunteers are on site, he said, but they are trained members of the Quebec search and rescue volunteer association.
Drolet said anyone interested in getting trained should reach out to the association.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 17, 2025.
Sidhartha Banerjee, The Canadian Press
