Melanie Nadia Ethier
Case reference: 2006014699
Missing since: September 29, 1996
Missing from: New Liskeard, Ontario, Canada
Date of Birth: December 25, 1980
Age at Disappearance: 15 years
Gender: Female
Ethnicity: Black
Eye Color: Brown
Hair: Black, Long, Braided
Teeth: Good
Height: 165cm / 5ft 5in
Weight: 55 kgs / 121 lbs
Physical Build: Medium
Melanie was last seen wearing: Green Nike jacket, blue jeans, white t-shirt with blue heart Pepe logo and black boots.
Details About Melanie’s Case: On the morning of Saturday 28 September 1996, Melanie visited the home of her mother’s close friend, Sylvie Chartrand. Only Melanie, Sylvie, and Chartrand’s six-year-old daughter Steffany were present at the house as Chartrand’s partner, Denis Léveillé, and her son, Jason, were out of town. During this visit, Melanie broke a nail which caused her to become upset. Sylvie later speculated Melanie’s disappointment over her broken nail was compounded by the family’s financial difficulties, as their car was broken down and phone service to their house had been cut off the previous day due to unpaid bills. Melanie left the home and travelled downtown, by chance running into her best friend at a bus stop outside the New Liskeard Public Library. Her friend, who had been doing homework in the library, decided to not complete her schoolwork early and join Melanie.
The two girls visited several locations in New Liskeard, including a Pizza Pizza where they had lunch. Over pizza, Melanie floated the idea of becoming a teacher and volunteering in Botswana, the country her father was from. Melanie purchased candles, frosting, candy hearts, and a new cake pan to make a cake for her grandmother’s birthday, which was going to be celebrated the next day before her grandparents went out of town. The pair also visited a house in nearby Dymond to collect money from someone Melanie had babysat for. At some point, the girls met up with Melanie’s boyfriend, Neil Fortier, who she had been dating for three weeks; and their friends Dave Bromley, Jay Denomme, and Ryan Chatwin. Neil described Melanie as being in a “good mood” that day and night.
The group stopped in at a video rental store around 9:00-9:30pm EST and rented the movie Sudden Death. At 10:00pm that evening, the group arrived at the Ethier home to watch the movie. Melanie’s mother was spending time with Melanie’s grandmother in their living room and suggested that her bedroom was too disorderly for hosting guests. Although given the choice to watch the film in her bedroom, Melanie told the teens they would have to watch the movie elsewhere and they left the residence. The group attempted to watch the movie at the home of Dave’s then-girlfriend, Samya Benchabi, who was unable to host them as her family was preparing for a move but joined them briefly as they walked to another house. Samya left the group when they reached the Armstrong Street bridge, at which point she returned home. Melanie’s female friend complained that the air had turned cold around this time.
Shortly after 10:00pm, the group relocated to a house on Pine Avenue where Ryan Chatwin lived. Ryan’s parents were present in the house, but remained in their bedroom. Davev returned home at this time. The house was a roughly ten or twelve-minute walk from the Ethier home, or about six blocks. According to those present, the teens watched the movie quietly in the basement while Ryan’s parents were asleep upstairs, and consumed no alcohol or drugs that evening; investigators have stated that they believe this to be true.
Before the movie finished, Denomme left the house at around 12:30–1:00am and returned home. Melanie’s female friend also left early in order to catch a ride to Haileybury, also departing at around 12:30–1:00am. While leaving the house, she encountered a suspicious vehicle which slowly approached her as she crossed through an intersection, as if assessing her. The girl was so unnerved by the incident that she ran from the scene to the next intersection by the Armstrong Street bridge, which was better lit. She followed the same route that Melanie is thought to have taken to Melanie’s home, where Melanie’s grandparents were waiting to take her home. She arrived at the Ethier residence shortly before 1:00am, catching the last few minutes of Saturday Night Live before being driven home. The vehicle she encountered has been described as a white or light-coloured Chevrolet Monte Carlo or similar two-door model with signs of being in poor condition, including a grey patch on the right side which was likely hiding a hole or other damage. The witness believes the occupants were two teenage boys or young men, but that she can’t remember ever seeing the car again. At the time of her departure, only three people remained in the house: Melanie, Neil, and Ryan.
The last confirmed sighting of Melanie was at around 1:30–2:00am on September 29, 1996, when she left her friend’s house and began making the 1 kilometer (just over 1/2 mile) walk to her home alone and on foot. It was uncommon for Melanie to walk home by herself, but without phone service she could not call home for a ride. One of the boys escorted her to the door and watched her walk west down Pine Avenue East. At this time, she was wearing a green Nike windbreaker, a white t-shirt with a blue heart Pepe logo, blue jeans, a black belt with a silver buckle, black boots with a short heel, a necklace, and a watch.
Melanie’s route would have taken her through three intersections, over the Armstrong Street bridge, past a gas station and apartment building, up a back alley or along a main road, and finally to the top of Church Street where the Ethier residence was located. According to family and friends, Melanie typically preferred to use the back alley when making this journey. The bridge was the only portion of Melanie’s route that was brightly lit, and the street would have been reasonably busy even at the late hour when she was seen crossing it. After the bridge, the last stretch of her walk home involved a poorly-lit back road where the video rental store she had visited earlier was located. The weather that evening was clear, and as it had only been two days since the previous full moon it is believed that there would have been some natural light along Melanie’s route.
Celine became aware of her daughter’s absence the next morning, when Melanie’s alarm clock roused her at 6:00am or 7:30am and she discovered her daughter was not in her bedroom. As it was not uncharacteristic of Melanie to spend the night at her friend’s house, Celine went back to bed and did not wake again until 8:00–9:00am. Melanie’s grandparents arrived at the house at 10:00am to celebrate her grandmother’s birthday, at which point Melanie was supposed to have finished preparing the cake she had bought materials for the day before. Celine did not immediately suspect anything was wrong due to Melanie’s habit of responsible behaviour, but she was alarmed when it became clear Melanie had not made it home the night before. Celine and her father drove to Tim Hortons to purchase a cake and call around in hopes of reaching Melanie, where she learned her daughter had left the Chatwin residence heading home. Melanie also did not appear at her daycare job as scheduled, prompting her mother to phone the New Liskeard Police Service at around 1:00pm and report Melanie missing.
The search for Melanie began on the afternoon of Sunday, 29 September 1996 at around 2:30-3:00pm. New Liskeard police dispatched officers to the Ethier residence and began a search of the area around the Armstrong Street bridge and along the banks of the Wabi River within hours of her being reported missing. Local police requested assistance from the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) on Monday 30 September; a helicopter from Sudbury, a police dog team from North Bay, and a search and rescue dog from the Office of the Fire Marshal of Ontario were dispatched to expand the search around Pine Avenue, as were an OPP emergency search and rescue team and an Ontario Hydro helicopter the following day.
More than a dozen police officers and volunteer firefighters canvassed the areas where Melanie had last been sighted, and police forces across Ontario were alerted to the disappearance. Although authorities conducted a door-to-door canvass, no homes in the area were searched. Police stated that they checked all surveillance video taken along Melanie’s route the night she vanished, as well as the visitor’s log in the Wheel Inn Motel near Pine Avenue. Two New Liskeard police officers were assigned to lead the investigation, and were joined by two detectives from the OPP Major Crimes Unit in Orillia during the first week of October. All of the friends who were with Melanie the night of her disappearance were questioned by police. In the days following, police surveillance was conducted on three local girls who may have been the intended targets of an attack on Melanie. These girls, other local teens, and an exotic dancer in Notre-Dame-du-Nord who bore a strong resemblance to Melanie were occasionally spotted by witnesses and mistakenly reported to police.
Over the years there have been many theories. Everything from mistaken identification, her friends assaulting her, a drunk driver hitting her with their car and even Melanie falling victim to a serial killer. There is also a theory of her being a victim of a local white supremacist group. The theory favored by the OPP is that Melanie was driven away from the search area by a car on the night of her disappearance, either abducted by a stranger or lured into the vehicle by someone she knew. The search is complicated by the Trans-Canada Highway, which passes by the community and makes the possibility of a random assault by someone from outside the community more likely.
In October of 2021, twenty-five years after Melanie went missing in northern Ontario, police searched a wooded area in Temiskaming District this week after getting a fresh tip about the case. This is thanks to the CBC podcast The Next Call by journalist David Ridgen, who focused on this cold case dating back to 1996.
“We were not aware of this particular witness. The witness heard the podcast, we spoke to him and we are here today searching the area of Larocque field,” said Robert Matthews, a detective inspector with the Ontario Provincial Police.
Robert Matthews said that the officers are searching for in the wooded area in North Cobalt, about 10 kilometres from where 15-year-old Ethier, of New Liskeard, was last seen as she was walking home from a get-together.
Matthews, who took over the Ethier case in 2019, co-operated with David Ridgen on the podcast series in hopes of getting fresh tips like this one.
OPP officers combed through the brush on foot and used search dogs and drones.
As the officers began to search the forested area, it was very, very thick,” he said. “The progress was slower than we thought, so we will have to schedule another few days to to continue the search.”
He added that anyone with new information about the case should contact OPP.
To date, Melanie Ethier has not been located. Her mother, Celine has said that she does not believe her daughter is still alive
If you have information on Melanie’s case, please contact any of the following:
Temiskaming OPP OPP ONCMPUR:
Telephone: 1-877-934-6363 or 1-705-330-4144
Email: opp.isb.resolve@opp.ca
Reference Case#: 96-3875
Crime Stoppers: 1-800-222-TIPS(8477)
Online at: https://www.canadiancrimestoppers.org/submit-a-tip/submit-a-tip
Crime Stoppers provides anonymous tipping
Send email to the National Centre for Missing Persons and Unidentified Remains at: canadasmissing-disparuscanada@rcmp-grc.gc.ca
Sources:
Canada’s Missing
Doe Network
CBC
Timmins Today (1)
Timmins Today (2)
Someone Saw Something 
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