Montreal·BreakingClaire Bell, the three-year-old missing since Sunday, has been found alive in Ontario.Investigators were searching area around St. Albert, Ont., for 3-year-old Claire BellClaire Bell, three, has been found after being missing since Sunday. (Sûreté du Québec)Claire Bell, the three-year-old missing since Sunday, has been found alive in Ontario. A drone spotted Claire by the side of Highway 417 near St. Albert, Ont., just after 3 p.m., according to Quebec provincial police. She was alone but seemed healthy. It was the Ontario Provincial Police who found the girl. “Obviously we’re relieved she was found,” Sûreté du Québec spokesperson Éloïse Cossette told reporters. “This is the best possible outcome.”Police are taking care of her and ensuring she has food and water, Cossette added. Ontario and Quebec provincial police will hold a joint news conference later Wednesday afternoon to provide more details, she said.Earlier Wednesday, police had expanded their search for Claire to eastern Ontario. The three-year-old was reported missing on Sunday west of Montreal.The SQ and Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) said there were reported sightings of the child in Ontario.WATCH | Police explain how Claire was found: Quebec police say missing 3-year-old found alive near Ontario highwayThe Sureté du Québec, which had been leading a search for Claire Bell after the Montreal toddler was reported missing on Sunday, says a tip lead them to expand their search into Ontario and the girl was located shortly after.A vehicle that was used by the child’s mother on the day of her disappearance was spotted in St. Albert at approximately 2:30 p.m. on Sunday.It was believed that the vehicle headed eastbound on Highway 417 using the Casselman on-ramp.Claire’s mother, Rachel-Ella Todd, 34, was arrested on Monday and charged with child abandonment.In handcuffs and a dark red T-shirt, she made a brief appearance at the Salaberry-de-Valleyfield courthouse on Wednesday.She remains in custody and is scheduled to appear again June 20. The SQ also said they had located a witness who spoke to Claire’s mother on a farm in the Montérégie region, near the Ontario border, on Sunday. Police had deployed a helicopter, ATVs and about 150 officers and trained volunteers to scour a large search area west of Montreal. WATCH | One-on-one interview with police earlier on Wednesdsay: Search area for missing 3-year-old is ‘very vast,’ Quebec provincial police sayOn Wednesday, crews with provincial police are searching wide areas between Montreal and the Ontario border. Claire had last been seen at her residence near Newman Avenue in Montreal’s LaSalle borough Sunday morning at around 9:45 a.m. ET. The SQ says Claire’s mother reported her missing a few hours later at a store in Coteau-du-Lac, about 50 kilometres west of Montreal. An employee of the store� said the woman drove her car into the parking lot and ran into the store in a panic.The SQ’s Cossette said investigators had received hundreds of tips for the case by early Wednesday. The search efforts had previously focused on areas near the junction of highways 30 and 20 as well as areas near Highway 40, west of the island of Montreal — an area police said is difficult to access due to dense vegetation.According to Radio-Canada sources, Todd didn’t seem lucid and made confused remarks when she met with investigators. Sources also told Radio-Canada an analysis of Todd’s phone revealed searches for children’s funeral urns, as was first reported by the Journal de Montréal on Tuesday.A video posted by Todd in the hours before Claire’s disappearance has surfaced on TikTok. Radio-Canada has confirmed the account belongs to her.In the short video, Todd is holding Claire and speaks into the camera saying: “You try that again and this is going to get ugly.” The caption reads: “Have you come up against a mother with nothing to lose????”WATCH | Details on the investigation into toddler’s disappearance: Mother of missing Montreal toddler charged with child abandonmentAs the search for three-year-old Claire Bell continues, police charged her mother, Rachel Todd, with child abandonment. Sources told Radio-Canada that Todd appeared confused when speaking to police and had recently looked up child funeral urns on her phone.CBC does not know the context in which the video was filmed. Quebec provincial police said they were not commenting on the video.The charge against Todd alleges that she abandoned her daughter and put her life and health in danger. If found guilty, the maximum sentence is five years in prison.On Monday evening, police announced they had found a dead brown Chihuahua around Highway 30 in the Vaudreuil-Dorion area. The dog matched the description of the one thought to be with the girl when she was last seen. As of Tuesday evening, police were still working to confirm that it’s the same dog.If you’re affected by the details in this story, you can find mental health support resources in your province or territory.ABOUT THE AUTHORMatthew Lapierre is a digital journalist at CBC Montreal. He previously worked for the Montreal Gazette and the Globe and Mail. You can reach him at matthew.lapierre@cbc.ca.With files from Kwabena Oduro and Gloria Henriquez
Missing Quebec toddler found alive east of Ottawa
