Underwater search for girl continues

posted on 02/06/08

The underwater search for 12-year-old Karissa Paige Boudreau is going into its second day Wednesday as an RCMP dive team continues checking the LaHave River.

Divers began probing the freezing water mid-morning Tuesday, planning to cover the area behind the Bridgewater Mall stretching as far down river as Shipyards Landing. Due in part to the cold temperatures, they were unable to complete that task and decided to extend the search into a second day.

“It’s looking to be at least a two-day job,” Sgt. John Collyer of the Bridgewater Police said. “It’s a fairly big area and they want to cover it, obviously, reasonably well.

“I don’t know what the conditions are underwater other than to say that it’s cold. They’re only able to spend about 15 minutes down before they come back up and get warmed up again,” he added.

There has been no sign of Karissa since January 27 when her mother left her in the family car outside the Sobeys store at the Bridgewater Mall around 5:30 p.m. When Penny Boudreau returned about 15 minutes later, Karissa was gone.

Since then, a large-scale police investigation has had no results. Karissa’s family has made two public pleas for her return. Police have scoured the river, areas around Bridgewater, and east and west along Highway 103 twice from a helicopter without success. They continue chasing down tips from the public and other leads.

Sgt. Collyer said there were “some small developments” Tuesday, but would not elaborate.

If anyone knows Karissa Boudreau’s whereabouts, they are asked to call the Bridgewater Police at 543-2464.