Police issue Amber Alert for 10-year-old boy
Mother fears Ariel Jeffrey Kouakou was abducted; last spotted at friend’s doorstep
The distraught mother of a 10-yearold boy who has been missing since Monday fears her son was snatched off the street in broad daylight.
“Yesterday, I thought he was lost, but today I believe he was abducted,” the boy’s mother, Akouena Noëlla Bibie, told the Montreal Gazette on Tuesday night. “He knew the way to his friend’s house and it was only a few blocks away.”
At the family’s home in the Bordeaux district, dozens of family and friends were on hand to offer support to Ariel’s parents who are facing a second night without him.
A few hours earlier, Montreal police issued an Amber Alert for 10-year-old Ariel Jeffrey Kouakou, who disappeared after knocking on a friend’s door in the AhuntsicCartierville borough just after noon on Monday.
Ariel stands 4-foot-7 and weighs about 90 pounds. When last seen, he was wearing a black hooded coat, grey pants and yellow shoes. Police say Ariel has never run away and has no behavioural problems.
Bibie said she knew something was amiss around 4 p.m. on Monday when she went to collect Ariel from his friend’s house and no one was home.
“I waited for five minutes and the friend’s older sister came home and said Ariel wasn’t there,” she recalled as she sat in her kitchen surrounded by friends from her native Ivory Coast.
She said neighbours told her they saw Ariel knocking on the front door just after 12:15 p.m.
The Grade 4 student, who had a pedagogical day on Monday, was unaware that his friend was spending the day with his own mother, who works for a daycare service at their local school. Bibie then drove to the school and spoke to the friend and his mother. The woman told her that she hadn’t seen Ariel nor had any of his friends.
A woman who is living with Ariel’s family, following a fire in her home, said the boy was in good spirits when he left home.
“She questioned him about whether he had permission to go on his own and he told her that I had given him permission,” his mother said.
Although Montreal police launched an Amber Alert, it doesn’t mean they have evidence that Ariel has been abducted, said Pina Arcamone, executive director of the Missing Children’s Network.
“It has now been more than 24 hours and there’s no sign of this little boy,” she said. “At age 10, children don’t have all the coping skills to allow them to find refuge or food. We are really, really worried.”
Bibie said that Monday was the first time her son had walked to his friend’s house on his own. His mother had a class and his father was working. Ariel is a shy, independent boy who is very attached to his younger sister, his father, Kouadio Kouakou told TVA news on Tuesday.
He said he recently restricted his son’s use of video games because he was unhappy with his math mark. However, he said he doesn’t believe that would be a reason for his son to run away. Kouakou made a plea on television to his son to return home immediately.
“Ariel, if you hear me, please come home,” Kouakou said. “We miss you.”
Montreal police said they have no idea where the boy is or why he is missing.
Police continued to search for him Tuesday night and, according to reports, finally located a key witness. A woman had told friends that she thought she spoke to Ariel about 2 p.m. on Monday in Parc des Bateliers, a waterfront park on Rivière des Prairies. Police were speaking to her late Tuesday night.
Anyone who sees Ariel or has any information on his whereabouts is urged to call 911 or Info-Crime at 514-393-1133.