Esther, the bright, warm 14-year-old known to her family and community as "Esti," has been missing from Toronto for eleven days. Police have activated the city's highest-level search operation. A $25,000 reward has been offered for information. Hundreds of volunteers have spent days canvassing the city's streets. And someone has been systematically ripping down the posters trying to bring her home.
Esti disappeared on May 15 after reportedly leaving home following a family argument near Earl Bales Park in the North York district, an area at the heart of Toronto's Jewish community. She left without her cellphone, without a coat, and without shoes.
The most recent confirmed sighting placed her at Bathurst Street and Hotspur Road at 12:01 a.m. on May 16, more than two kilometres south of the park where she was first reported missing. She was wearing a long turquoise-sleeved sweater with writing on the front and grey sweatpants that were loose around the ankles.
Toronto Police escalated the search to a Priority 1 investigation, deploying officers, K-9 units, mounted patrols, and coordinating with hundreds of community volunteers. Of the nearly 3,100 missing persons reports filed in Toronto last year, only five were designated Level 1 searches.
The family revealed this week that Esti is on the autism spectrum, a disclosure her mother Shira said she held back out of respect for her daughter's privacy. "It's like her medical information that she should have the right to disclose when she chooses to," Shira said. "The only reason that we're okay saying it now is because she's still missing, and it's super scary to think that she's been gone for a week." Her father Joseph added that unless someone knew Esti well, they would not know she was on the spectrum at all.
At an emotional press conference, Shira addressed her daughter directly: "Esti, my love, if you are watching this, please come home. We love you so very much and we miss you terribly. Please know this clearly: you are not in trouble. Nobody is angry with you, no matter what has happened. All we care about is knowing that you are okay."
