Missing 10-year-old girl from West Perth found deceased

A 10-year-old girl, who went missing at Whirl Creek near Mitchell over a week ago, was found dead Monday.

Provincial police announced on Tuesday that the body of Taleya Paris had been located in the water shortly before 3 p.m. the previous day.

Paris disappeared on the morning of March 5 and that's when the search efforts began.

While OPP dive teams worked at Whirl Creek, firefighters from ten different departments searched downstream.

Over the weekend, those efforts had extended about 25 kilometres down the Thames River to the town of St. Marys.

"Day in and day out it wasn't an easy task," said Walter McKenzie, the mayor of West Perth Township. "Certainly we appreciate the support, not only from neighbouring municipalities, but from other counties as well. We had a tremendous outpouring of support and without that support this whole episode would not have been possible. The manpower that we had was just unbelievable."

During that time the public was asked to stay away from the river due to safety concerns.

"Some days the water levels were very high, some days they were very low," said OPP Const. Jillian Johnson. "Some days [were] very cold, some days very warm. Some days the banks were hard, some days [they] were soft. The waters were flowing fast."

Monday marked the ninth day of the search.

During that time, members of the community decorated a local bridge with stuffed animals, pink ribbons, as well as messages of love for Taleya and support for the various search teams.

Bill Hunter, the chief of the West Perth Fire Department, said the week-long effort was physically and emotionally challenging. He is thankful that the community was so supportive of their efforts.

"Our firefighters are out there working every day, knowing that the community has got their back."

"It is difficult for everyone involved, but we know that we have a job to do," said OPP Const. Jillian Johnson. "It’s our job to help locate the child especially when she’s been missing for as long as she was."

Johnson said the OPP are glad to be able to help the family and community "take the next step forward towards healing."

Police have said the death is not considered suspicious and would not comment further on how the incident took place.

-- Reporting by CTV Kitchener's Jeff Pickel