‘I’m trying to just be the detective she needs me to be,’ father says as search continues for missing daughter

Police are urging community members to call the hotline with any information that may help investigators find 14-year-old Esther, missing since May 15.

Shira and Joseph have not seen their 14-year-old daughter Esther for almost a week now. Joseph admitted that he’s been in “full sleuth” mode trying to find his daughter.

“I’ve been pretty much a detective and making phone calls and trying to review footage from any possible place, knocking on doors,” he told CTV News Toronto on Thursday evening.

While the community support has made this week bearable, Joseph said it’s been a difficult ordeal as a father.

“I’m trying to just be the detective she needs me to be,” he said, getting choked up. “I’ll worry about the emotions later.”

Toronto police updated on Thursday on Esther’s last known sighting. Based on confirmed information, they now say the 14-year-old was last seen on May 16 at 12:01 a.m. in the area of Bathurst Street and Hotspur Road, south of Highway 401.

That is about more than two kilometres south of Earl Bales Park, her previous known sighting. Police said Esther was seen at the park near Bathurst Street and Sheppard Avenue West, around 11:30 p.m. on May 15.

Esther is described as a white female, around five-foot-two, with a medium build and brown hair. She was last seen wearing a long, turquoise-sleeved sweater with words on the front and grey sweatpants that were loose around the ankles.

“We remain deeply concerned for her safety,” Duty Insp. Jon Rose said in a news conference on Thursday afternoon.

Speaking at the Earl Bales Park command post, Rose said the search for the 14-year-old remains in the highest search category, Level One.

“Level One’s the most serious situation that opens up a lot of resources to us, like the marine unit, police dog services, and the mounted unit,” Rose explained, adding that officers are actively searching for Esther around the clock.

Anyone with information is urged to contact the tip line at 647-355-3148. The public can also upload any tips to a dedicated QR code.

“We deeply appreciate how concerning this is to the community and to the family when a young person goes missing, especially for this length of time,” Rose said.

“We would very much like to find Esther to get her home safely to her family.”

He noted that officers are following leads, but did not share further details about the investigation.

“We’re letting the information guide this investigation,” Rose said.

New information about missing girl

Police also revealed on Thursday that Esther, who is affectionately known as Esti, had been diagnosed before as being on the spectrum.

When asked why they’re just disclosing their daughter’s condition now, Shira said she wanted to respect Esther’s privacy.

“It’s like her medical information that she should have the right to disclose when she chooses to. The only reason that we’re okay saying it now, because while she’s still missing, and it’s super scary to think that she’s been gone for a week,” she said.

Joseph added that unless they become close with his daughter, no one would know Esther is on the spectrum.

“You’ll notice a little bit of social awkwardness, maybe here and there, or she also sometimes will become maybe emotionally dysregulated, but if anything, when you speak to her, she seems more intelligent than most people that you would talk to and more social than most people you would talk to.”

He said his daughter would be upset knowing they’ve shared that information with the public.

“We love her and we care about her, and we want her to come home to us, and we miss her, so we miss her greatly, and that’s the most important thing for us.”

Shira would not divulge what happened on the night of May 15 before Esther left the house. She remembered that Esther had no shoes on and had not brought her phone.

“We followed her here,” Shira said, referring to Earl Bales Park. “And then we didn’t see her.”

‘Esti, please come home’

The two have praised the work police have been doing to find their daughter, as well as the community’s help in the search.

“This has been one of the greatest outpourings of community sport that I’ve ever seen in my life. It’s a very emotional thing to see how well people can work together and come together,” Joseph said.

When asked what she wanted to say to her daughter, Shira became emotional.

“Esti, please come home,” said Shira, her voice breaking. “Everybody misses you. They just want you to come home. We’re worried about you.”

“We love you. We miss Esti, and everybody in the whole community loves you. You can see, all you have to do is look around, thousands and thousands of people care about you. So, just come home safe,” Joseph added.

Shira also wanted her daughter to know that no one is upset with her.

“If you’re scared to come home, just be brave, be strong, and come home.”

With files from CTV News Toronto’s Beth Macdonell