She Vanished In Her Apartment Building On Her Way To Go Swimming With Her Friend, And She Wrote About Disappearing In Her Diary
In 1985, Nicole Marin was 8 years old and living with her mother, Jeanette Morin, on the top floor of an apartment building known as 627 The West Mall, located in the Etobicoke region of Toronto. She’s remembered as a fun little girl who had a happy-go-lucky attitude and plenty of friends.
Yet, on July 30, 1985, Nicole was supposed to meet up with a friend to swim at the pool in the rear of her apartment complex when she vanished without a trace. She’s now remained missing for over 39 years.
That Tuesday, Nicole left her apartment at about 11:00 a.m. Just before she headed out, she spoke to her friend, Jennifer, on the intercom and said she’d be down in the lobby in a few minutes.
Around 15 minutes later, though, Jennifer buzzed Nicole’s apartment again and spoke to her mother, who ran a small daycare out of her home. Jennifer asked where Nicole was, and Jeanette figured her daughter was probably playing with other kids in the back of the complex.
It wasn’t until hours later that Jeanette realized Nicole was missing and contacted the police at 3:00 p.m. According to Staff Sgt. Madelaine Tretter, this set off the largest search for a missing individual in Toronto police history.
Authorities began canvassing the complex, knocking on all 429 doors. They also spoke to a woman who spotted Nicole either waiting for or entering the elevator.
“Somewhere between her apartment and the lobby, she disappeared,” stated Acting Detective Sgt. Stephen Smith in 2022.
The following day, the police deployed foot patrols, helicopters, and marine units to scour the area around Highway 27. Meanwhile, canines began searching storage units, utility rooms, underground garages, and sump pump rooms.
Despite that, Smith detailed how they didn’t have the same amount of resources back in 1985 as investigators do today. It was also strange how Nicole vanished just one day before surveillance cameras were set to be added to her apartment complex.
Sign up for Chip Chick’s newsletter and get stories like this delivered to your inbox.
“The next day, there were going to be cameras installed in the building. Did people know that? Maybe. But we don’t have the luxury that we do now with all the physical tracking, the camera tracking, we didn’t have that at the time,” he explained.
Another curious piece of evidence came in the form of a diary entry penned by Nicole. Shortly after she went missing, the police realized she’d written “I’m going to disappear” in her diary. Still, the 8-year-old was known to love playing imaginary games with friends, so authorities didn’t know what to make of her statement.
The police ultimately spent 25,000 hours investigating Nicole’s case and questioned about 6,000 people. They put together a 20-person task force, which was active for 9 months, and spent an estimated $1.8 million during the investigation’s first year. Nicole’s family members and friends were cleared of any responsibility in her case.
“There could be many different scenarios, [from] Nicole walking away, she could be living somewhere else, to foul play. So, we want to find out what happened to her and put together the pieces from 1985 until today so that everybody knows exactly what happened,” Smith stated.
One potential break came in 2020 when a woman reported seeing Nicole at a local park with a man on the day she vanished. The woman, who was just 12 at the time, allegedly waited so long to speak with police because the man had allegedly assaulted her before, and she was afraid to come forward.
Authorities brought canines to the park, and a tracking dog returned a “hit.” This led to an excavation, but no evidence was uncovered.
“Thanks to our command and their support, we were able to go up with a full team and excavate an area where we believe that evidence may have been present. But unfortunately, through the entire day for the week, we didn’t find it,” Smith noted.
In 2022, the police began digitizing Nicole’s case files to update them to more modern standards, and Smith claimed the police remained dedicated to finding answers.
“We’re going to keep investigating this case. We’re going to keep investigating the same areas. We’re going to follow up [on] every tip, and as we digitize, more tips will [become] available, and we’re always hoping that one person will call in and let us know some information that we don’t have already,” he shared.
Jeanette died in 2007 after suffering a heart attack and never found out what happened to her daughter. Nicole’s father, Arthur “Art” Morin, continues holding onto hope for both of them.
“When there’s absolutely nothing, you have to keep your hopes up that one day, you’ll find out. You’ll find out one day,” Art said in 2015.
Nicole was four feet tall, weighed 51 pounds, and had brown hair and brown eyes. She was last seen wearing a peach one-piece bathing suit with colored stripes, red canvas shoes, and a green headband.
Toronto police released an age-progressed artist rendition of Nicole in 2019, showing what she might’ve looked like at 42 years old. She would be 47 today.
Anyone with information regarding her case is urged to contact the 22 Division Toronto Police Service at (416) 808-2205.
More About:True Crime