(Montreal) Just 20 years ago, on January 23, 2005, Mélina Martin, aged 13, got out of her mother’s car in Farnham, in the Eastern Townships, and ran towards a winter festival in a local park, excited to see the sled dogs.
Posted at 1:53 p.m.
Updated at 2:57 p.m.
Her mother, Françoise Algier, told her daughter that it might be too cold to go out, but Mélina didn’t let that deter her.
Her family has never seen her since.
“It’s been 20 years, and when I pass by, I still see her crossing the street,” M saidme Algier Thursday in telephone interview.
Twenty years after Mélina’s disappearance, her family has not given up hope of finding her. Despite the fact that there have been no solid leads, despite years of efforts by the family, the police and the Returning Children’s Network, which marked the anniversary of his disappearance on Thursday.
Mme Algier said her daughter was supposed to meet her later that day at a fast food restaurant, but Mélina never showed up. She disappeared, apparently without a trace.
Over the years, people have come forward with lots of information, but none of it has produced any concrete results. “There was a lot of hearsay, everyone saw her everywhere, from one side to the other, but I think it wasn’t really her,” Ms.me Algiers.
-The town of Farnham had fewer than 8,000 inhabitants in 2005, and Mme Algier assures that it was not a dangerous place.
The mother of seven has not given up hope of finding out what happened to her daughter. Mélina, who she remembers as a typical teenager who loved to have fun, listen to music and spend time with her siblings, would be just 33 years old today. Even if the anniversary of the disappearance is “like a knife turning in the wound”, Mme Algier continues to speak out in hopes that a citizen will come forward to provide a solid lead.
Every January 12, on Mélina’s birthday, she places a plate and lights candles for her, even though she decided not to do it this year. “It’s been 20 years and nothing has happened, so now I’m trying to do nothing to see if we get anything,” she says.
Although she doesn’t know what happened 20 years ago, she wonders if her daughter was kidnapped, perhaps brainwashed, and hopes that maybe she is still be alive somewhere.
“We didn’t find a body, we have nothing,” she said. “We can’t say she’s dead either, so we keep hoping that one day she will call, or that she will appear. »
At the time of her disappearance, Mélanie Martin was 1.63 m tall, weighed 52 kilos, had red hair with blonde highlights and several piercings in her ears, one under her lower lip and another in her navel. She wore jeans with fur on the bottom, a beige camisole, a denim vest with fur sleeves and a black coat, and carried a beige vinyl purse with a blue star.
Anyone with information about his disappearance is asked to call the Returning Children Network or the Sûreté du Québec.
