Marianne Schuett (born 29 September 1956) was a Canadian schoolgirl who disappeared from Kilbride, Ontario, on 27 April 1967. The ten-year-old was last seen near her school speaking with a man in a dark-coloured European automobile, possibly a Renault. An extensive search involving thousands of people failed to locate her. A blue running shoe was found near Speyside, Ontario. Investigative efforts have continued in the decades after her disappearance.
Case
Marianne Schuett was born on 29 September 1956. She was a middle child with two brothers. Her family moved from Hespeler, Ontario to Kilbride in 1965. On Thursday, 27 April 1967, she stayed after school to work on a project with a classmate and planned to walk home as she lived in close proximity to her school.
Several witnessed reported seeing Marianne near the school beside a dark-coloured European car. Witnesses described its driver as a white man with a thin face who wore glasses and a hat. A teacher at the school reported seeing Marianne get in the vehicle. Police asked Blaine Macdonald, a newspaper cartoonist, to sketch out the car witnesses described; investigators believed the resulting drawing resembled a Renault 4 station wagon.
The initial search became one of the largest missing-person searches conducted in Ontario at the time. An estimated 18,000 people participated. The day after her disappearance, a blue running shoe was found near Speyside. The Globe and Mail reported in 1967 that the forensic laboratory in Toronto indicated it belonged to Marianne. Marianne's parents published a public appeal asking whoever was responsible to disclose what happened to their daughter. In 1977, police questioned a man in Montreal about the case. More searches were conducted north of Milton, Ontario in 2021.
Person of interest
In 1991, The Hamilton Spectator reported that police had investigated an unnamed man, who had reportedly purchased a 1967 Renault shortly before Schuett disappeared. In 1972, he had attempted to abduct a 14-year-old girl from Burlington; he had also been accused of sexually assaulting two girls. The man died by suicide in January 1991, before investigators could question him about Marianne's disappearance.
Later developments and memorial
Schuett's father died in 1999 and her mother died in 2022. On 2 October 2021, a memorial bench was dedicated to her with support from the Kilbride History Group and Marianne's surviving family members.
References
External links
Halton Regional Police Service case page Canada's Missing – Royal Canadian Mounted Police