Body discovered along LaHave River

Amy Woolvett

THE COAST GUARD

NovaNewsNow.com

The discovery of a body along the banks of the LaHave River in Bridgewater on Saturday heightened fears about the fate of a missing 12-year-old girl, formerly of Shelburne County.

On Saturday, police would not say if the body was that of Karissa Boudreau, who has been missing since Jan. 27, and has been the subject of an extensive search across Nova Scotia. Police were expected to release the identity of the deceased person on Sunday afternoon.

A passerby who spotted a body underneath the snow near the LaHave River called police shortly after 11:30 a.m. Officers responded, but did not disturb the remains. A forensic identification unit from the RCMP arrived to deal with the scene. A stretch of road where King Street turns into Highway 331 was cordoned off for the entire day, stretching into the night.

Police officials did say Karissa’s parents had been notified about the body’s discovery, before an identification was made.

The search for Karissa has continued every day since her disappearance on all levels. It is difficult not to see her face on a poster in any local store and thousands of supporters have been circulating her information through the popular Facebook site on the Internet.

Police divers spent two days this week searching the LaHave River, not far from the Sobey’s parking lot where Karissa was last seen.

According to Sgt. Collyer, Police dogs were used the night of her disappearance to try to track her scent.

“Due to a storm it was not a good track,” he said.

Two days later, they picked up their attempt to follow her scent with the dogs and searched the woods nearby but to no avail.

Karissa disappeared wearing light clothing and pink Crocs and was not carrying a cell phone or purse.