Toronto police showing renewed interest in disappearance of 8-year-old Nicole Morin

Almost 37 years after eight-year-old Nicole Morin went missing from her Etobicoke home, Toronto police are renewing efforts to close her case as part of the new missing persons unit.

Around 11 a.m. on July 30, 1985, Morin left her apartment on the top floor of 627 The West Mall to meet her friend at the swimming pool in her building. She was never seen again.

“Somewhere between her apartment and the lobby, she disappeared,” said Acting Detective Sgt. Stephen Smith.

Over the last almost four decades, police say they have received numerous tips from the public but have been unable to find her.

Smith said that in 1985, they didn’t possess nearly as many resources they have now, and there was no camera footage of her disappearance.

“The next day, there were going to be cameras installed in the building. Did people know that? Maybe. But we don’t have the luxury that we do now with all the physical tracking, the camera tracking … we didn’t have that at the time,” explained Smith.

Smith tells CityNews they currently have a full-time investigator focused on the Morin cold case and several other investigators assisting the case.

As part of digitizing the files and bringing Morin’s case up to “2022 standards,” Smith said they recently found many tips pointing to one location north of Toronto but could not find any new evidence.

“Thanks to our command and their support, we were able to go up with a full team and excavate an area that we believe that evidence may have been present. But unfortunately, through the entire day for the week, we didn’t find it,” said Smith, who added it doesn’t end there.

“We’re going to keep investigating this case. We’re going to keep investigating the same areas. We’re going to follow up every tip, and as we digitize, more tips will come available, and we’re always hoping that that one person will call in and let us know some information that we don’t have already.”

An age-enhanced artist rendition image was released in 2020 that showed what Morin might look like at age 42.

Toronto police released an age-enhanced, artist rendition of Nicole Morin in 2019. The sketch is of what the missing girl might look like at the age of 42.

CityNews spoke with Morin’s father, Art, on the 30th anniversary of her disappearance. At the time, Art said he hoped that the mystery of his daughter’s disappearance would be solved in his lifetime.

“When there’s absolutely nothing, you have to keep your hopes up that one day, you’ll find out,” he said. “You’ll find out one day.”

Smith says that this case has impacted every police officer who has worked on it over the last four decades, and their ultimate goal is to find Morin.

“I imagine anybody that worked on it would like to see this case closed, just to find out what happened that day,” Smith said.

“As you know, there could be many different scenarios, Nicole walking away, she could be living somewhere else, to foul play. So, we want to find out what happened to her and put together the pieces from 1985 until today so that everybody knows exactly what happened.”

Smith said they are going through all the historical missing persons cases as part of the new Missing Persons Unit.

“There are several reasons why people go missing. It’s just a matter of looking into these cases, updating them to 2022 standards, and utilizing the techniques we have now to find these people,” he said.

“Some are just living in different parts of the world. Others are missing, and that’s our goal. To find all these people.”