WOODSTOCK, Ont. - An "intensified search" for Victoria Stafford that was launched by the Ontario Provincial Police Saturday brought some comfort to the missing eight-year-old's parents, who expressed hope the stepped up efforts might provide some answers.
As a police dive team began scouring waterways and officers were out again canvassing neighbourhoods in this tight-knit southwestern Ontario city near London, the young girl's mother said it made her "very, very happy.
"I feel confident. Not that I didn't before, you know, but I feel better that there's fresh eyes," said Tara McDonald as she participated in a walk organized to rally support around finding her daughter.
"Our police officers were getting exhausted, you know, so they're fresh eyes and some more energy and strength is being put into (the search)."
The renewed investigation, which police said could last another week or longer, came immediately after the case was handed over to provincial police Friday by the chief of the municipal force, Oxford Community Police.
Police also reclassified the case as an abduction on Friday.
Police continue to re-examine older information and tips, while detectives are also speaking again to residents in the hope of uncovering new leads.
An around-the-clock ground search had been conducted by local police with the assistance of other nearby forces starting on April 8, the day Victoria disappeared. The Grade 3 student, who family and friends call Tori, vanished after leaving school.
They concluded that search the following Monday, though the investigation has been ongoing.
Rodney Stafford, the girl's father, said knowing provincial police are involved comforts him. But he wasn't sure what to make of the gap between the heightened search efforts.
"My mind's everywhere right now. I'm here right now in body but I'm not here," he said.
"I just hope whatever they're doing turns something up."
In the coming week, police said there will be "significant police activity" in the city.
It was a long weekend when police did their first canvass of the community so officers will be treading over much of the same ground again, said Oxford police acting-Sgt. Wayne Sczepanski.
"We have in some cases spoken to the same person four or five times. It's just more or less to remind them of the ongoing investigation and to provide additional information," he said.
Const. Laurie-Anne Maitland, who's been the most visible spokesperson for police since day 1, added police are "revisiting areas to gather new information based on previous evidence brought forward."
Calling that "normal procedure," she added investigators will go wherever the evidence leads them -- and so far, that's only been within city limits.
As of Saturday evening, the search hadn't turned up any significant new leads, she said.
A brief snippet of security video showing Tori walking with an unidentified woman with long brown hair and a puffy white coat is the only tangible lead police have publicly discussed.
No one has come forward to identify the woman, and her face is not clearly visible in the grainy footage.
Police have said they have "pretty substantial direction" regarding the woman's identity, but declined to divulge more details.
On Saturday afternoon, dozens of community members and their children silently walked laps around the track at College Avenue Secondary School, where the footage was captured.
Some people wore special t-shirts imprinted with Tori's face and identification details, while a woman who doesn't personally know the family showed up with a white truck and a huge colour photo of the blond child's face on the side.
During the day, a popular pond and several other small bodies of water within the city were searched by a provincial police dive team with a boat and sidescan sonar.
Southside Park was the first location to be searched with underwater equipment due to its proximity to Tori's school, said Const. John Edwards, team leader with the underwater search and recovery unit.
Police said the search was completed without finding anything and they planned to examine all other local waterways.
While walking her dog near the pond, resident Nancy Happl said she's glad a search continues but wondered why provincial police weren't called in sooner.
"It's been so long. That's not a good sign," she said.
"I don't know how (police are) so confident in Woodstock. How are they so confident she's here?"
On Friday, police reclassified Tori's disappearance from a missing person case to an abduction investigation.
