Six Montreal police divers are set to dig into the ice and plunge into Rivière des Prairies this morning as the search for missing 10-year-old Ariel Jeffrey Kouakou continues.
Divers are expected to jump into the frigid water to search the river near des Bateliers Park in Ahuntsic-Cartierville, in Montreal's north end.
The temperature at 9 a.m. ET felt like –17 with wind chill.
Ariel had left his home in Ahuntsic-Cartierville to walk to a friend's house when he went missing on March 12. His parents believe he was abducted.
A command post remains active at Galeries Normandie, a strip mall on de Salaberry Street, where police will be on site to receive any information from the public.
So far, police say they've received 247 tips related to Ariel's case. None has led to any concrete clues.
Last week, police searched the riverbank of the area near des Bateliers Park, and this weekend volunteers were out putting up posters and going door-to-door looking for clues to lead them to Ariel.
Ariel Jeffrey Kouakou, 10, had left his home in Ahuntsic-Cartierville to walk to a friend's house when he went missing on March 12. His parents believe he was abducted. (Montreal police)
Ariel's parents have put up $10,000 in reward money, and yesterday, champion boxer Adonis Stevenson added $15,000 to that amount.
This brings the total reward money for Ariel's return to $25,000.
Other offers have been made to increase this sum even more.
For Pina Arcamone of the Missing Children's Network, a cash reward offers incentive for the media to continue talking about Ariel and show his photo.
"It might incite someone that saw something but for whatever reason hesitated to call it in," Arcamone said.
Call to reinstate Amber Alert
In the past few days, Ariel's father Kouadio Frédéric Kouakou has called for police to trigger an Amber Alert once again.
Police launched an Amber Alert the day after Ariel went missing. This was the first time Montreal police issued an alert without meeting certain criteria, like there being evidence of an abduction and information on how to locate the boy.
Police said it was an "exceptional measure" given that Ariel had been missing for more than 24 hours.
It was later lifted when police determined Ariel's case didn't meet the criteria to keep the emergency measure in place.
Arcamone said she is sure that reinstating the alert would make no difference to the case — it has served its purpose, she said.
"The Amber Alert is the most powerful tool that allows us to have impact within seconds all across the province because it involved the participation and collaboration of every media outlet," Arcamone said. "And I believe we were successful in doing that on Tuesday."
