Father and 4-Year-Old Daughter Found Dead in 'Unimaginable Tragedy' After Hike in Canada
A man and his young daughter were found dead on Sunday after they disappeared during a hike in Canada.
The father and his 4-year-old daughter arrived at Rattlesnake Point Conservation Area to go hiking between 2:30 p.m. and 3 p.m., Halton Regional Police Service said in a statement.
They were due back by 5:30 p.m., but failed to arrive, and police received a call about two hours later reporting their disappearance.
The weather conditions in the area Sunday were difficult, and the terrain was “challenging,” prompting a large response from a variety of different agencies to help search, including a K9 unit and a Search Incident Response Team, police said.
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“It’s a very large — very forested and it does encompass a cliff. It isn’t your typical kind of search,” Cst. Steve Elms told CTV News Toronto. “The terrain is very rugged, very well treed and it can be slippery.”
The bodies of a male adult and female child were found within the area just after 11 p.m., police said.
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The bodies were found with “significant trauma” at the base of an escarpment, or steep slope/cliff, with injuries possibly consistent with a fall, Cst. Ryan Anderson said at a press conference.
“Our thoughts are with the family and friends of the deceased,” the statement said. “This is an unimaginable tragedy, and we grieve with them at this time.”
The family’s next of kin has been notified, and an investigation is ongoing, according to police.
Anderson said the investigation is being conducted by the police service’s homicide unit, but only because they handle any investigation involving a child under 5 years old. He said that the death of the child is not being considered a homicide investigation at this time.
Rattlesnake Point is a popular hiking destination, and sits about 37 miles southwest from Toronto and about 80 miles north of Buffalo, New York.
It was closed on Monday, Conservation Halton, a local environmental agency, wrote on Twitter.
