Girl, 7, missing since February
Family refuses to co-operate with investigators
Repentigny police are struggling to find a missing 7-year-old girl whose parents refuse to help in the investigation.
Tailor Kenol was first reported missing by the principal of her elementary school on Feb. 9. When police contacted her father, he told them: “It’s none of your business, the girl is fine and she’s in Haiti,” said Guy Bélair, assistant director of the investigative division of the police force of Repentigny, which is situated off the eastern tip of the island of Montreal.
The father told police Tailor was in Haiti with her biological mother, who has been in Canada. Tailor came here two years ago. The girl’s stepmother, Maria Dorval, told LCN news yesterday Tailor was sent to Haiti because the father was worried youth protection services were going to take her away.
It’s unlikely Tailor is in fact in Haiti, Bélair said. Officers checked with Canadian and U.S. customs to see whether Tailor had left the country and found nothing. They also checked with all the airlines flying out of Canada and the United States, but found no records of the girl on any flights. They contacted officers with the RCMP and international crime service Interpol in Haiti, who have thus far been unable to find the mother.
Police were given a phone number said to be that of the girl’s mother in Haiti. After numerous attempts, they finally got through to a woman who told them: “My daughter is fine,” and hung up. Bélair said they’re not even certain the woman is actually Tailor’s mother.
After three months of fruitless efforts and a father who still refused to co-operate, police finally turned to youth protection services and a Quebec court judge for permission to issue a missing person’s alert to the public and the girl’s picture, released yesterday. The judge also issued an order that the child be turned over to youth protection to ensure she hasn’t been maltreated.
Police are checking with the prosecutor’s office to see what can be done to force the father to help, but for the time being is allowing youth protection services to handle that aspect of the dossier.
“It’s a very rare case,” Bélair said. “We’ve never handled something like this before.”
Police will continue to interview people who knew the missing girl and her family to get information, and the RCMP is continuing its search in Haiti. They’re hoping members of the public will come forward to help.
Anyone with information is asked to contact Repentigny police at 450-470-3600, extension 0, or call Info-crime Quebec at 1-800-711-1800.
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