‘Important witness’ wanted by police in case of missing 3-year-old Quebec girl

Authorities in Quebec say they are looking for an important witness in the search for three-year-old Claire Bell.

Provincial police say investigators are looking for a woman who worked and lived on a farm who they believe met the child’s 34-year-old mother, Rachel-Ella Todd, sometime on Sunday between 9:45 a.m. and 3:30 p.m., in either in southwestern Quebec or Ontario.

Officers say the woman speaks both English and French and was wearing an apron with the word “abondance” across the front.

Todd was arrested and charged Tuesday with unlawful abandonment of a child after she reported her daughter as missing Sunday in Coteau-du-Lac, Que., about 50 kilometres west of where she was last seen in Montreal’s LaSalle borough.

Authorities say Todd parked her SUV outside a store in Coteau-du-Lac, went inside and told staff she couldn’t find her daughter.

Todd briefly appeared via video conference from a police station in Vaudreuil Tuesday before being detained at the Leclerc prison in Laval.

Crown prosecutor Lili Prévost Gravel told reporters she opposed the accused’s release due to the seriousness of the charge.

She will appear again Wednesday afternoon to set a date for a bail hearing.

The child is described as three-feet tall, has brown hair and brown eyes and was last seen wearing a white long-sleeve shirt with pink on the collar and grey pants.

The mother had been driving a 2007 grey Ford Escape with a “Baby on Board” sticker in the back window and the licence plate K50 FVE.

Officials are asking anyone who sees the girl or has information about her location to call 911. Witnesses can report tips anonymously.