Mother criticizes police in search for missing Maniwaki teens

The mother of a girl from Maniwaki, Que., who has been missing since September says police haven't done enough to solve her daughter's disappearance.

Laurie Odjick's daughter Maisy, 16, and her friend Shannon Alexander, 17, have been missing from the Kitigan Zibi First Nation, about 145 kilometres north of Ottawa, since Sept. 6, 2008.

Since the girls' disappearance, Odjick said she has been the one to organize most of the search parties because police have always thought the girls ran away.

Odjick said that she'll set out on yet another search on May 2.

"Police here in Ontario are amazing when things happen like that. You know, Amber Alerts, they canvass, they have air searches. And for us, there was nothing," said Odjick.

"I'm not a very happy person because from the beginning nothing was done for these girls. Nothing," she said.

McDougall said Kitigan Zibi police continue to investigate the teens' disappearance with the help of the Sret du Qubec.

"There were indications that they were leaving," said Cpl. Francis McDougall, assistant chief of the Kitigan Zibi police. "Their emails said they were leaving, they were going elsewhere."

But police are still puzzled by the fact the girls left behind their bankcards and identification and by the fact that they don't seem to have taken any clothing with them, he said.

"That's very puzzling, very puzzling that they left their stuff behind," said McDougall.