Missing Montreal boy’s father has hope he will be found

Search centres on park, riverbank near where 10-year-old was last seen Frederic Kouakou doubted his son Ariel would have gone near a large river.

As firefighters, an ice rescue unit and police on all-terrain vehicles and horseback trudged through fresh-fallen snow in their search for a missing Montreal boy Wednesday, his father held out hope he will come home safely.

“I’m talking and thinking about those people I don’t know and who are here to help us, so I have hope, I have hope,” Frederic Kouakou told reporters at a police command post set up to help find Ariel Jeffrey Kouakou, 10.

“My son (will) come back. I have that feeling.”

The search was centred on a park and riverbank near where the boy was last seen Monday afternoon after telling family he was heading to a friend’s house.

Montreal police spokesperson Jean-Pierre Brabant said officers from nearby communities as well as a canine unit were assisting in the search, while police decided to not send divers into the river because they had no target areas where the boy might have been.

But Kouakou said he didn’t believe his son would have gone to the river because the family never went there.

He said a security camera at a nearby garage had captured his son’s image, leading him to believe the boy had been heading to visit his friend as planned.

“He was walking to the place he was supposed to go,” he said.

Police said they received about 120 tips after triggering an Amber Alert on Tuesday afternoon, including a piece of information from a woman who said she saw someone matching the boy’s description at about 2 p.m. on Monday at a park not far from his home.

Wednesday’s search focused on the vast green space bordering the Rivière des Prairies.

“In these types of investigations, we have to be sure that we didn’t overlook anything,” Insp. André Durocher said in an interview.

“Any possible trail, maybe a piece of clothing, maybe a footprint, anything — that’s what we’re trying to find.”

Durocher confirmed police had met the woman who saw the boy matching Kouakou’s description. She reported having had a conversation with him in which he seemed sad.