A Quebec coroner said police in Lévis did not take appropriate steps in their search for 13-year-old Maëlyne Lugez, who was found dead in a creek near her school in November 2024.
asserted
who → say → November
In a report published Sept. 14, coroner Luc Malouin questioned why officers suspended ground searches overnight, during a period when Lugez may still have been alive.
uncertain
Lugez → publish → period
Malouin found police focused too heavily on the fact that Lugez was considered suicidal and failed to adequately account for another part of her profile: she was a missing 13-year-old child.
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she → find → profile
Search guidance for children her age called for a more intensive search of isolated areas, he said.
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he → call → areas
Lugez disappeared on Nov. 6 after leaving school during her lunch break and failing to return for her afternoon classes.
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Lugez → disappear → classes
The school contacted her father before calling police.
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school → contact → police
Police in Lévis, south of Quebec City, initially searched a 300-metre perimeter around the school and unsuccessfully tried to locate Lugez through her cellphone, which had been turned off.
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which → search → cellphone
Malouin questioned whether police developed “tunnel vision” after those efforts failed.
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efforts → question → vision
Lévis police testified that 95 per cent of missing youths are quickly found through searches within 300 metres and cellphone geolocation.
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cent → testify → metres
Police suspended the ground search at about 9:15 p.m. because of darkness and fatigue, though investigators continued working on the case overnight.
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investigators → suspend → case
The search resumed the following morning.
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search → resume → ?
Lugez was found at about 1:20 p.m. on Nov. 7 in a creek about 700 metres from her school, with her face submerged in the water.
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face → find → water
She was later declared dead at the hospital.
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She → declare → hospital
One investigator testified that reducing the police presence can sometimes allow a suicidal person to return on their own.
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person → testify → own
“That is true for a suicidal person, but here, in addition to being suicidal, she was a 13-year-old child,” Malouin wrote.
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Malouin → write → addition
Search guidance for missing children between 13 and 15 called for isolated areas to be “flooded with mobile resources,” Malouin said.
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Malouin → miss → resources
He found officers should have considered both profiles when deciding how to conduct the search.
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officers → find → search
Lugez’s family and school staff believed she was in the woods and repeatedly called for a police dog to be used, according to the report.
“At 9 p.m., with the ground search at an impasse, why wasn’t that possibility considered?” Malouin wrote.
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Malouin → believe → impasse
The report stated that a police dog handler testified that the quiet evening would have been an excellent time to search the wooded area.
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evening → state → area
Quebec provincial police offered the services of a police dog handler and its emergency measures division, but the Lévis police official in charge declined the offer, preferring to wait until morning.
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official → offer → morning
Malouin concluded that Lugez drowned accidentally and did not intend to take her own life.
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Lugez → conclude → life
He wrote that the young girl’s death ’‘likely occurred late in the evening of November 6 or early in the following night.’’
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death → write → night
Malouin recommended that Lévis police update officers’ knowledge of ground-search practices and that provincial police better inform other forces about the specialized services they offer.
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they → recommend → services
In a statement, Lévis police said they are reviewing the report.
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they → say → report
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 15, 2026.
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report → publish → Press
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