Ariel, the child who disappeared six years ago

Six years. This is how much time has passed since little Ariel Kouakou, 10 years old, was last seen in the Ahuntsic district of Montreal. Six long years of pain and sorrow for the boy’s family, who remain hopeful of seeing him alive again one day.

The sky is gray during this dinner hour on March 12, 2018, in the borough of Ahuntsic-Cartierville. The weather is mild, with the mercury hovering slightly above freezing.

Ariel Kouakou leaves the family home to go to a friend’s house on foot. He will never make it to his destination and will never be seen alive again.

Surveillance cameras – whose images were not particularly good – filmed the boy venturing into Parc des Bateliers, on the banks of the Rivière des Prairies.

He is never seen leaving the park again.

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What happened to the 10 year old boy? All the police officers we spoke to on condition of anonymity are convinced that the child unfortunately drowned in the river.

“We are very strongly convinced that he sank in the river, but that his body was simply never found. This story is so sad,” said one of the police officers interviewed.

The Kouakou family never “bought” the theory favored by the investigators, that of drowning. For the young person’s parents, the theory of kidnapping is a strong possibility. According to our information, relatives still believe today that Ariel could have been kidnapped, refuting the drowning theory.

In an interview with TVA Nouvelles last year, the Kouakou family judged that the police had not taken the kidnapping theory seriously enough and that they had spent too much time scanning the banks of the river.

Moreover, the Réseau Enfants-Retour, a non-profit support organization for families affected by the disappearance of a child, made public on Tuesday the aging of a photo of Ariel Kouakou.

The portrait, produced by an expert from the Sûreté du Québec, shows what young Ariel, who would be 16 years old today, would look like.

According to our information, the aging of Ariel’s photo was not carried out at the request of investigators nor following the obtaining of new details in the investigation.

It was rather at the request of the family that the portrait was taken by the Sûreté du Québec.

Ariel’s father, Frédéric Kouakou, stressed the importance of photo aging in a press release distributed by the organization Réseau Enfants-Retour.

“This initiative aims to revive public interest in my son and stimulate collective memory. We sincerely hope that this will encourage anyone with information to come forward, in order to help us in our quest to find him,” he said.

At the time of his disappearance, Ariel Kouakou was wearing a black coat, gray pants and yellow shoes. He was 1.40m tall and weighed 90lbs.