Today marks 40 years since 8-year-old Nicole Louise Morin’s disappearance, and Toronto police have renewed a public appeal for information and a sizeable reward for her location.
Nicole was last seen on July 30, 1985, after she left her apartment at 627 The West Mall in Etobicoke to meet a friend in the lobby and go to the swimming pool.
According to Robert Hoshowsky’s book Unsolved: True Canadian Cold Cases, Nicole said goodbye to her mother, Jeannette, around 11 a.m. and hasn’t been seen since.
Nicole left the apartment wearing an orange bathing suit after her friend, who was waiting in reception, buzzed up to the Morins’ apartment to tell Nicole she was waiting for her. She buzzed again after about 15 minutes, but Jeannette thought Nicole was probably “fooling around somewhere.”
After half an hour, Nicole still wasn’t there, so her friend decided to go swimming by herself. Jeannette had presumed she was swimming the entire time, but she went to find Nicole, and she was nowhere to be seen. The police were called around 3 p.m.
From there, Toronto police then began one of the most extensive missing-person searches in its history. They formed a 20-strong task force and invested over 15,000 hours in the case, with over 900 members of the public also assisting. However, four decades later, no physical evidence was ever found.
The disappearance of Nicole Morin is one of Canada’s most infamous cold cases, and police and other organizations still aim to keep it in the public’s consciousness.
Toronto police held a news conference on Wednesday morning at 627 The West Mall, Etobicoke, at 11 a.m. — the time and place where Nicole went missing. They were joined by representatives from Toronto Crime Stoppers and the Missing Children Society of Canada.
Detective Sergeant Steve Smith of the homicide and missing persons unit announced a reward of $50,000 for the location of Nicole Morin. The award would be valid for one year.
Police are also releasing an updated age-progressed image of Nicole, depicting what she may look like as a 48-year-old woman.
“If you know something, anything, that could help bring answers, we ask you to come forward,” said Smith. “This case is not closed. It has never been forgotten, and it only takes one piece of new information to make that difference.”
This is the latest appeal over the past few decades. According to the Toronto Star, in 2001, Toronto Crime Stoppers shared an age-enhanced photo of Nicole in her mid-20s with over 1,000 crime-stopping organizations worldwide.
In 2014, Toronto police released a re-enactment video of what they believed happened to Nicole on the morning of her disappearance.
Five years later, they released an updated sketch of what Nicole would look like in her 40s.
Toronto police are calling on anyone with information about Nicole Morin’s disappearance to contact them at 416-808-7411 or the non-emergency line at 416-808-2200. Tips can also be submitted anonymously to Crime Stoppers at 416-222-TIPS (8477) or on their website.