Cops Issue Update On Long Missing 5-Yr.-Old Girl With Life Threatening Health Problems
Posted January 31, 2008 12:00 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
The last time anyone saw five-year-old Alana Livas was on November 29, 2007. She’s just a little girl, but she already has a troubled past. And police continue to fear it’s only gotten worse since then.
The tot was in the custody of the Children’s Aid Society, when her parents came for a scheduled visit. But all three of them disappeared after they arrived and cops believe her mother and father, Viviene and Peter Livas, abducted the child and drove off with her.
“She’s now been missing for two months and we are very worried about her medical condition,” said Phillip Howe, Director of Toronto Children’s Aid Society. “We’re also worried about the damaging effects to Alana of living a life on the run. Children should go to school, have stability, have friends to play with and participate in the daily activities of life. It’s part of their normal healthy development and it’s important, we believe, that Alana have that opportunity also.”
She hasn’t been seen since, although authorities have found the car they think was used in the getaway.
But with no progress and no sign of the trio in more than two months, cops are hoping to recharge their investigation through the heartfelt pleas of a worried family member. Alana’s aunt and representatives from Children’s Aid held a press conference at Police Headquarters Thursday morning to plead for new clues.
“Alana was living with me and my fiance Derek at the time she was taken,” explained Jean Chin, the young girl’s aunt. “Derek and I don’t have any children. Parenting Alana was a new experience for us. It has been nothing short of amazing watching her grow and learn new things. Alana is an amazing girl. She is so smart and so funny and so joyful. It breaks my heart to think of her in pain. We miss her very much. And hope that someone out there is watching this and can help us bring her home.”
Alana’s condition had reportedly improved when she was living with her aunt. She even went to kindergarten at Niagara Street Public School, but police fear, with her living on the run and her two-month supply of medication gone, her debilitating symptoms will return.
“My fear is that she’ll go back to where she was, where she can’t walk,” said Toronto Police Det. Cathy Powell.
Alana was living in a marijuana grow-op before Children’s Aid stepped in last March. Her parents lost custody of her when they failed to bring the youngster to a medical appointment on the order of her doctor.
No one has heard from her parents, and police have no tips.
Authorities have reason to believe the family is in Canada but don’t know if they’re still in the GTA.
The urgency in the hunt for the child has been ratcheted up because she has a medical condition that could be life threatening. “R eports from … Sick Kids Hospital … show that five-year-old Alana was suffering from rickets ,” Detective Sgt. Rick Searl warned last month. “Without ongoing treatment, there could be a number of consequences, including altering the heart’s electrical function, which in turn may compromise the airway function.”
Authorities don’t think Alana’s parents realize the seriousness of their daughter’s condition. Police want to find her and check on her well being – as well as ask her mother and father where they’ve been all this time.
