More than 200 police officers are searching the wooded area in Quebec where hunters stumbled upon the skeletal remains of a nine-year-old girl who had been missing for eight years. Authorities say they have received new information since the remains of Cedrika Provencher were found near Trois-Rivieres on Friday, December 11, 2015.
Seeking evidence before snowfall
They are hurrying to look for evidence before snow falls later in the week. Some sources suggest police have a prime suspect, but not enough evidence to arrest anyone.
The news is making headlines locally and nationally, as it did when the Cedrika disappeared in 2007. It’s believed that she was approached by a man asking for help in searching for a lost dog. Hundreds of people volunteered to help look for her at the time.
News frightens parents
Terrible news like this crops up periodically and frightens parents who have, over the years, become less likely to let their young children go outside to play unsupervised. But statistically, the chance of a child being abducted by a stranger is very small in Canada.
Police statistics show that out of 46,718 children reported missing in 2011, only 25 were listed as “abducted by a stranger.” But for these purposes a stranger is defined as anyone who is not a parent. So it could be a relative, a family friend, a babysitter or someone who is not known by the family.
In 2003, two people with the national police, the RCMP’s National Missing Children Services, studied 93 stranger abduction missing children reports and statistics compiled in 2000 and 2001. They found that only one case involved a total stranger.
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