12-year old girl still missing

During a news conference, Karissa’s mother Penny Boudreau made a plea for her daughter’s safe return home.

On Jan. 27, they had gotten into a mild argument. At 5:30 p.m., she pulled into a Sobey’s and ran in to grab a few groceries while Karissa waited in the car.

By the time she returned 10 minutes later, Karissa was gone.

According to Penny, her daughter has not run away in the past.

Karissa grew up in Shelburne County only moving to Bridgewater with her mother recently. Bridgewater Police have been in contact with the Shelburne RCMP, friends, and family of Karissa’s from the area.

“A lot of folks from Shelburne have been trying to drive up to help,” said Acting Deputy Police Chief Sgt. John Collyer as groups of concerned people have aided fruitlessly in the search for the young girl.

Sgt. Collyer is unable to make any determinations at this point whether Karissa has run away or was abducted.

“At this point she is a missing person,” he said, “we cannot say with any certainty that she’s been met with foul play or if she’s a runaway. We haven’t closed any of those options but nothing has come forward from the public to indicate any type of suspicious activity.”

By no means though have the police closed that avenue, he explained.

A scare with an attempted abduction occurred last month in Liverpool as a 12-year old girl described how a man tried to grab her while she was waiting at her bus stop.

“The South Shore is a pretty quiet spot usually but any time we have something like that up or down the shore obviously our ears perk up and that kind of thing is a concern to the police,” said Sgt. Collyer.

“We are aware of that situation but to link the two,” he asked. “We can’t do that…there is no link at this time.”

Karissa is described as five feet tall and 130 pounds with straight, shoulder-length brown hair. She was wearing a black hoodie, black vest, blue jeans and pink crocs. Anyone knowing the girl’s whereabouts should contact the Bridgewater Police Services.