MISSING: Yohanna Cyr (1978) - Montreal, Quebec

By S.M.
Published 05/21/20

Yohanna CYR

Missing since: August 15, 1978

Missing from: Saint-Laurent, Montréal, Québec

Age at Disappearance: 18 months

Classification: Non-Family Abduction

*“I am still without any news from you, always in the unknown, always asking myself questions for nearly 40 years,” Liliane Cyr wrote to her daughter in 2018.*
*“That represents 14,595 days. Where are you? Why have we not found you?”⁣*

Yohanna Cyr was always smiling. In the brief time she was home, she loved the outdoors, and her first dog – a baby husky.

On August 15, 1978, at 18 months old, Yohanna vanished from an apartment at 1715 rue Rochon in Saint Laurent, Québec, while her mother was in the North Shore region for work. She had been left with Liliane’s then-boyfriend, Aaron Lewis.

On August 16, Lewis called and said his parents were babysitting Yohanna in Washington, D.C., so he could visit Liliane. After the two returned to Montréal, Liliane went to Washington in search of her daughter. Then, the story changed.

Lewis said Yohanna had drowned in the bathtub, and in a panic, he had buried her. Lewis was charged with child abduction in a Montréal court, but was acquitted and released three weeks later, on Sept. 28, 1978. He was charged with perjury one month after, and again acquitted. ⁣

Yohanna’s mother believes she was sold. ⁣

In 2006, a woman submitted a tip to the Missing Children’s Network – it was the same story she’d told police back in 1978, then recanted out of fear. She said she saw Lewis leave the apartment with a metal breadbox on the day Yohanna disappeared.

In 2014, using ground radar, investigators twice searched the area on Grenet St. near the former apartment. They excavated the parking lot, which used to be forest, searching for Yohanna. Nothing was found.

The anguish of the unknown is something no family should have to endure – but the ongoing search for Yohanna Cyr is proof that any tip, at any point, can move an investigation forward. ⁣

Yohanna Cyr is now 44 years old. She is biracial with brown hair and brown eyes, with a scar on her right hand between her index and middle fingers. The scar is shaped like the letter "Y."

“I love you Yohanna and wish from the bottom of my heart that you hear my call and come back among us,” Liliane’s letter ends.

“We are waiting for you.”