Marianne Schuett case: 55 years later a community is still searching for answers

April 27th marks 55 years since 10-year-old Marianne Schuett disappeared in Kilbride. To this day her family and the community continue to search for answers.

The search for Marianne Schuett hasn’t stopped for her family and friends since she vanished on April 27th, 1967.

Debbie Serneels lived right next door to Marianne, who was just 10-years-old when she was taken. Debbie and Marianne would walk home together often. Debbie said, “the day that she went missing I had stayed after school and I found out when I reached home. My mom had asked me if I had seen her and I said ‘no, I hadn’t’  because she walked home before me.”

According to a 1967 police release, Marianne left Kilbride public school around 4 o’clock in the afternoon. She only had 400 yards to walk home but she never arrived.

Police released photos of the man they believed abducted her and the vehicle they thought she was taken in. Before the man was going to be arrested he took his own life.

Marianne was never found, but 55 years later there’s renewed hope. Gord Collins is a retired Peel Regional police officer. Collins grew up near Kilbride and last year helped lead a search north of Milton where they believe Marianne and possibly others were taken.

Collins said they used cadaver dogs and retrieved soil samples from what he calls an ‘area of significance.’ The forensic lab found human DNA but it was insignificant to build a profile on.

While Collins believes it could be Marianne, there’s a chance it’s someone else.

To mark the anniversary of her disappearance bells will ring at the Kilbride United Church at 4 PM, the same time Marianne was taken.