HOPES FADING
THE TINY shoes of a missing three-year-old boy have been discovered in a desperate search to locate his whereabouts.
Dylan Ehler went missing from his grandmother’s yard in Truro, Nova Scotia on Wednesday afternoon and tragically, there has been no sign of him since.
The young boy’s devastated grandfather Norman Brown told Crime Online that Dylan wandered off after his grandmother “turned her back for a minute.”
Norman said: “He thinks it’s a game. Once he’s out and about, he loves to run. He was outside with his grandmother. Then he was gone.”
He added: “It’s the worst feeling in the world. I’ve never been helpless before in my life, but I am now.”
Patrol officers were on scene within four minutes of the first call, and an extensive search has been in place since.
Over the weekend, search crews weathered cold, wet conditions as they scoured the neighbourhood for young Dylan.
The search resumed Monday with assistance from Colchester Ground Search and Rescue and the Truro Fire Service, whose members searched the waterways.
Additional resources, including an underwater camera, were used in the Lepper Brook area, where the toddler's boots were found Wednesday evening.
Truro Police Chief Dave MacNeil said telling the family officers had found his little boots “wasn’t easy, but they’re a strong family, and they’re coming to grips with any outcome that’s possible.”
He added: “We’re keeping positive. We’re going to work as hard as we can to try to find Dylan.”
Officials have now shifted the case from ‘search mode’ to ‘recovery mode’ - however stressed “his does not mean the team has given up on finding Dylan.”
Chief MacNeil said: “There’s a quick-moving brook, Lepper Brook, that runs parallel to Elizabeth Street.”
“The water is very high there this time of year and it’s moving fairly quickly. Firefighters did go into the river, probably chest-height, and they were searching the river.”
Dylan, described as an “active boy,” was last seen in camouflage pants, blue rubber boots, and a winter coat with U.S. flags.
Hundreds of fire departments and community members are taking part in the #BootsForDylan initiative in support of the family
Anyone with information on Dylan’s whereabouts is asked to contact the Truro Police Service at 902-895-5351.
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