A poster of missing 14 year-old Esther is seen in Earl Bales Park in Toronto on Tuesday.Arlyn McAdorey/The Canadian Press
The search for a missing 14-year-old girl has galvanized a massive response from Toronto police and the city’s Jewish community as investigators appeal to the public for leads.
The teen, identified as Esther, was last seen on Friday night at a park in north Toronto. As the search entered its fifth day on Wednesday, police officers and volunteers looked for the girl around the sprawling wooded area.
Toronto police say they are concerned about Esther’s safety but have not said what sparked her disappearance. There is no evidence she was abducted, they say.
“There’s a lot of work happening right now to try and resolve this, so I think our energy’s very much focused on doing all we can to bring her home safely,” Toronto Police Service Chief Myron Demkiw told Newstalk 1010 on Wednesday.
Police have deployed a drone as well as marine, canine and mounted units in the search. Investigators have asked residents and business owners to check surveillance cameras for any signs of the teenager.
On Tuesday, police upgraded their response to Esther’s disappearance to a Level 1 search, which is the highest level. A manager makes such a decision based on the search and information obtained during the investigation, said TPS spokesperson Constable Laura Brabant.
Last year, Toronto Police conducted five Level 1 searches, Constable Brabant said. More than 3,000 people were reported missing to the force in 2025.
Esther’s family does not know why police have increased their response, said Maureen Leshem, who is acting as their spokesperson.
“I can only imagine it’s based on leads, as well as [the number] of days that have gone by,” said Ms. Leshem, who recently met the family through the Jewish community.
Esther’s parents would also like to know if police have any information about the girl’s whereabouts, Ms. Leshem said. She said the family is feeling “every type of emotion” and Esther’s younger siblings are worried and want her to come home.
In terms of the police response, Ms. Leshem said that there is a heavy presence in the community, but “any mother would tell you that it’s not fast enough.”
Ms. Leshem also said: “It’s always easy to criticize, but the reality is we don’t know the work that [the Toronto Police] is doing behind the scenes.”
On Wednesday, volunteers gathered at a synagogue in response to calls for help from Shomrim Toronto, a volunteer community-watch organization that is helping organize efforts to find the teen.
Menachem Silver, a volunteer helping to organize the search teams, said the volunteers have been putting up posters, handing out flyers and knocking on doors. He said the organization has been gathering its own leads.
Melanie Tennant, a Shomrim volunteer, came to look for Esther with a friend who heard about the disappearance through her synagogue.
“It’s a very important thing for people to do in a community when a child goes missing like this,” she said. “You need to do your part.”
Kathy Bourikas paused with her adult daughter in front of a poster of Esther at Earl Bales Community Centre, near where the girl was last seen.
“The community is distraught. Everyone’s checking their backyards, their sheds, their garages. We were doing it,” she said.
Esther’s parents delivered an emotional appeal to their daughter, who is known as Esti, on Tuesday. “Please know this clearly – you are not in trouble. Nobody is angry with you, no matter what has happened," her mother, Shira, said.
Esther was last seen on Friday around 11:15 p.m. at Earl Bales Park near Bathurst Street and Sheppard Avenue West in the heart of the Jewish community in North York.
The area has recently had a heightened officer presence in response to concerns that police hadn’t been doing enough to respond to weekly anti-Israel protests at the intersection. In March, Chief Demkiw announced that police would prohibit the demonstrations from spreading to side streets.