Three-year-old Dylan Ehler disappeared in seconds. His family wants changes to the missing child alert system
Walking through the small bungalow in Truro, N.S., there are signs of three-year-old Dylan Ehler everywhere; his job chart on the wall, his drawings, his photographs. The rambunctious little boy’s bedroom is still set up and waiting for him to come home.
Dylan vanished, almost without a trace from his grandmother’s backyard on May 6, 2020. Every moment since then has been agony for his mother, Ashley Brown and his father, Jason Ehler.
Pointing to a pile of wrapped gifts in the living room, Jason says, “Those are all Dylan’s Christmas presents, birthday presents and my presents. I won't open a present again until he's found. Dylan is still missing. There is no god. I prayed so many times. There's just nothing.”
Anyone who has ever lost sight of their child, even for just a fraction of a second, knows the terror that sets in. Jason and Ashley have been living with that excruciating feeling for the past 18 months. With tears streaming down her face, Ashley says, “We don't know if he was taken. We don't know if he drowned. We don't know if he's alive. We are just stuck in limbo.”
The only evidence ever found is Dylan’s rubber boots, discovered six hours after his disappearance, submerged in a brook behind his grandmother's neighbour's house.
Dylan Ehler vanished, almost without a trace from his grandmother’s backyard on May 6, 2020. (Ehler/Brown family)Despite a six-day official search, and hundreds of volunteer searches since then, not a shred of other evidence has been found. In the absence of answers, conspiracy theories have taken hold. Dozens of online groups started popping up, with amateur sleuths posting vicious rumours about his parents and grandmother. A memorial was destroyed in the belief that Dylan may have been buried there. Jason started getting ransom demands.
“One guy sent a picture of…. Dylan, but it was all photoshopped and looked like he had bruises on his face and stuff. And he wanted three Bitcoin. Another one…. said he had Dylan in the truck and he’d toss him out the window doing 100 kilometres if I didn't send him a couple of thousand dollars.”
The online bullying became so rampant that Jason and Ashley consulted Halifax lawyer Allison Harris.
“Ashley talked about being afraid to go to the grocery store. I know that some of their family members would [have] ‘baby killer’ yelled [at them] as they walked on the road.”
Using Nova Scotia’s anti-cyberbullying law, Harris filed, and won, a court injunction to shut down one Facebook group with more than 17,000 followers.
Truro police have maintained all along that there is no sign of foul play; that the evidence points to the brook where the boots were found. Lepper Brook feeds into the Salmon River, which flows out to the Bay of Fundy, home to some of the highest tides in the world.
Dylan’s parents have been vocal about their anger at the way Truro police and search and rescue conducted their investigation in the critical early stages of the disappearance.
Rescue crews search for a missing three-year-old boy in the waters of the Salmon River in Truro, N.S. on Thursday, May 7, 2020. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Andrew VaughanA W5 investigation reveals a lengthy delay in the public alert system and in the deployment of the Colchester Ground Search and Rescue team. The timeline reveals that the 911 call was made to Truro police at 1:24 p.m. It took two hours and 21 minutes to fully deploy search and rescue teams. A “non-intrusive public alert” wasn’t issued until three hours and eight minutes after Dylan was reported missing. Neither the public alert nor the search and rescue operations could be activated until directed to do so by Truro police.
Dylan’s mother claims police were slow to act and only focused on one theory: that Dylan fell into the water and was swept out to sea.
“They never treated Dylan’s case like a criminal investigation. They just treated it like a search and rescue. I know that they didn't block off any streets. They didn't stop the public from coming into the crime scene of the area that he went missing and they were very late on issuing alerts and getting help. So I think that tunnel vision did have a play in that. Once they found the boots and that was it, that's where he went and essentially the police tell us that we need to accept it. And move on.”
Truro police Chief Dave MacNeil stands by his handling of the case.
“We're very confident in our investigation. It was very thorough. There was no stone left unturned.“ Chief MacNeil insists the case has been investigated as both a potential crime and a search and rescue operation and says the file is still open.
Rescue crews search for a missing three-year-old boy in the waters of the Salmon River in Truro, N.S. on Thursday, May 7, 2020. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Andrew VaughanComplaints that the official investigation was flawed extend beyond Dylan’s family. An online petition, with almost 2,500 signatures, is calling for the creation of a new emergency alert system.
To be called the Ehler Alert, it would facilitate “the rapid distribution of information to the public about young children lost in potentially hazardous environments.”
The petition states: “We believe these circumstances should require an instant public notification... When any child goes missing, time is of the essence and sometimes the assembly of search and rescue efforts takes up too much crucial time in the safe recovery of that child.” petition link.
Since his son vanished in May of 2020, Jason has been relentlessly organizing volunteer searches.
“The only time I feel at peace is when I'm searching for him, I can breathe. When I'm not, I can't breathe….I have to find him either way. I'm never going to stop because he's my only child. He's my everything.”
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
There's actually no such thing as vegetables. Here's why you should eat them anyway
The rumours are true: Vegetables aren't real — that is, in botany, anyway. While the term fruit is recognized botanically as anything that contains a seed or seeds, vegetable is actually a broad umbrella term.
'It looked so legit': Ontario man pays $7,700 for luxury villa found on Booking.com, but the listing was fake
An Ontario man says he paid more than $7,700 for a luxury villa he found on a popular travel website -- but the listing was fake.
The Met Gala was in full bloom with Zendaya, Jennifer Lopez, Mindy Kaling among the standout stars
The Met Gala and its fashionista A-listers on Monday included Jennifer Lopez, Zendaya and a parade of others in a swirl of flora and fauna looks on a green-tinged carpet lined by live foliage.
Israeli forces seize Rafah border crossing in Gaza, putting ceasefire talks on knife's edge
Israeli tanks seized control of Gaza's vital Rafah border crossing on Tuesday as Israel brushed off urgent warnings from close allies and moved into the southern city even as cease-fire negotiations with Hamas remained on a knife's edge.
Canadian cadets rock mullets and place second at U.S. military competition
Sporting mullets, Canadian Armed Forces officer cadets placed second in an annual military skills competition in the U.S.
Noelia Voigt resigns as Miss USA, citing her mental health
Noelia Voigt, who was crowned Miss USA in November 2023, has announced she is resigning from her role, saying the decision is in the best interest of her mental health.
Putin begins his fifth term as president, more in control of Russia than ever
Vladimir Putin began his fifth term Tuesday as Russian leader at a glittering Kremlin inauguration, setting out on another six years in office after destroying his political opponents, launching a devastating war in Ukraine and concentrating all power in his hands.
Winnipeg man admits to killing four women, argues he's not criminally responsible
Defence lawyers of Jeremy Skibicki have admitted in court the accused killed four Indigenous women, but argues he is not criminally responsible for the deaths by way of mental disorder – this latest development has triggered a judge-alone trial rather than a jury trial.
Mediterranean staple may lower your risk of death from dementia, study finds
A daily spoonful of olive oil could lower your risk of dying from dementia, according to a new study by Harvard scientists.
Local Spotlight
Investigating the tale of Winnipeg's long-running mystery bookstore
Whether passionate about Poirot or hungry for Holmes, Winnipeg mystery obsessives have had a local haunt for over 30 years in which to search out their latest page-turners.
'Love has no boundaries': Sask. couple in their 90s and 80s get married
Eighty-two-year-old Susan Neufeldt and 90-year-old Ulrich Richter are no spring chickens, but their love blossomed over the weekend with their wedding at Pine View Manor just outside of Rosthern.
Twin Alberta Ballet dancers retire after 15 years with company
Alberta Ballet's double-bill production of 'Der Wolf' and 'The Rite of Spring' marks not only its final show of the season, but the last production for twin sisters Alexandra and Jennifer Gibson.
Video shows gaggle of geese stopping traffic on Highway 1 near Vancouver
A mother goose and her goslings caused a bit of a traffic jam on a busy stretch of the Trans-Canada Highway near Vancouver Saturday.
B.C. mayor stripped of budget, barred from committees over Indigenous residential schools book
A British Columbia mayor has been censured by city council – stripping him of his travel and lobbying budgets and removing him from city committees – for allegedly distributing a book that questions the history of Indigenous residential schools in Canada.
Three Quebec men from same family father hundreds of children
Three men in Quebec from the same family have fathered more than 600 children.
Here's how one of Sask.'s largest power plants was knocked out for 73 days, and what it took to fix it
A group of SaskPower workers recently received special recognition at the legislature – for their efforts in repairing one of Saskatchewan's largest power plants after it was knocked offline for months following a serious flood last summer.
Quebec police officer anonymously donates kidney, changes schoolteacher's life
A police officer on Montreal's South Shore anonymously donated a kidney that wound up drastically changing the life of a schoolteacher living on dialysis.
Canada's oldest hat store still going strong after 90 years
Since 1932, Montreal's Henri Henri has been filled to the brim with every possible kind of hat, from newsboy caps to feathered fedoras.