Walk for Marilyn
Image
Reply
Author Archives: Nathalie
To the woman who left a message about a potential sighting of Marilyn this morning
We really need to speak with you. Can you please call the family line again and leave your name and phone number? We need specific details about the location you mentioned. Many thanks.
To the caller from this morning
Featured
Hi! If you do not want to leave a message, please call back the family number at 1-800-840-1526. I should be able to pick up the phone. If not, please leave me a message and/or call back later. I do want to hear what you have to say. Thanks.
Nine years of disappearance
Featured
I saw you for the last time in January 2008, at the funeral of our grandfather.
We were seated next to each other at the kitchen table.
I was busy preparing a souvenir video. You helped me.
It was more than three o’clock in the morning. You asked me why I was trying to finish a project too big for the little time I had before me.
I replied, “So that we can see Grandpa at least once as we knew him before the disease, before Alzheimer’s.”
If I saw you again today Marilyn, could I recognize you?
Tonight I look at pictures of you. What’s going on in your life right now? Are you even still alive?
These images are precious. I do not know if I will have others one day. I wish I had more.
I still do not know what happened on February 17, 2008.
If you have reasons for not coming back, I will understand them, but say something, please.
If a tragedy hit you and maybe shame stifles you, know that the past does not matter. Only the present and the future count.
If you are forced into silence, please know that I will continue to look for you, telling myself that even in the darkest hours some people clung to the hope that finally prevailed.
Even when something seems inevitable, there is always a light at the end of the tunnel.
I told you this sentence in February 2008, just a few days before you disappeared and I still believe in it today.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/family-of-marilyn-bergeron-missing-for-9-years-refuses-to-give-up-hope-1.3985929
http://montrealgazette.com/news/quebec/reward-tripled-for-information-about-quebec-woman-missing-since-2008
http://montreal.ctvnews.ca/reward-increased-for-woman-missing-since-2008-1.3288144
8 Years Missing
Featured
We say that we have a sister like she belongs to us.
One understands that having a sister is being indebted for life when she disappears.
Sometimes two sisters celebrate their centenary side by side; their frail shoulders welded to the other as the deep friendship that endures forever.
Sometimes sisters do not know each other, they live their lives their separate ways, not having – or not taking – the time to share new events together.
Sometimes two sisters are separated at birth or later, by human error or death, always tragic regardless of the circumstances.
Sometimes a sister goes missing.
The other sister remains in the shadows in silence, wondering what happened, trying to follow in the footsteps, to understand where the shoes of the other led her.
The disappearance only brings torment, a thick fog that does not dissipate with the passing years.
In trying to find her, we see thousands of beautiful and often smiling faces still held at arm’s length by family members, also frozen in time.
Sometimes another person tells me about the disappearance of their sister, caused by Alzheimer’s, abduction, runaway, mental illness, human trafficking, or else.
A sister is a bit of childhood that can never be lost.
Marion C. Garretty
Every day I miss my sister.
Every day I hope she remembers that she can count on me.
I may never find an answer to the disappearance of Marilyn. I may even never see Marilyn again but in my heart I know I’ll always have a sister.
Seven years ago, Marilyn disappeared.
Featured
I’m still looking in my memories for the mirror that I must have broken since that fateful day when I began my search for her.
Seven… A magic number according to some beliefs.
Seven… The age of reason, the sabbatical year, the deadly sins, the wonders of the world, the women of Bluebeard, and the art of cinema.
Seven years already since you went for a walk, Marilyn, and never returned. Who would have thought? Certainly not me, nor the person I know as my sister.
What has struck me in the last seven years? This question comes up a lot these days.Tonight, seven words echo in my head:
Hope. The favorite one. The only one who holds up all the families of missing persons to live and to carry-on. I hope to use it for something else one day.
No. For the number of times I have heard “No” in the last seven years. Too bad for those who believed that it would make me give up.
Family. For the survival of my family despite the pain, and for our ability to still have fun regardless.
Violence. To emphasize my exasperation with the people who are content to say nothing for the victims. You know who you are. You should demand more.
Pizza oven. To represent all the horror stories that I have heard as a necessary evil to advance the investigation of a missing person.
Illness. When all hypotheses are considered, I learn more about unhappiness, human exploitation, and mental illness. There are too many people who feel lonely.
Silence. For people who do not speak and that should perhaps try, just to feel better.
Seven years. Here’s what the “Espace Citoyens” told me:
Seven years after the person’s disappearance, the Superior Court may pronounce a declaratory judgment of death.
This time, it’s me who says, “No.”
Because I still hope, with the invaluable support of my family and friends, to find my sister alive. I am fortunate to be neither sick nor beaten; nor I do not fear “pizza ovens” or any other disaster scenarios. I will never be silent about the disappearance of my sister Marilyn. I will continue to fight to find her.
Like my little girl would say, I love you all (seven) days of the week Marilyn.
Please give me a sign.
Nath xx
Press Release: Seven years of disappearance
Featured
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Quebec City, February 16th, 2015 – Marilyn Bergeron was 24 years old when she left her parent’s house to go for a walk on February 17th, 2008. A few hours later, she bought a coffee at Café Dépôt de Saint-Romuald located about twenty kilometers from the family home, and was never officially seen again.
“Seven years after the person’s disappearance, the Superior Court may pronounce a declaratory judgment of death”. Marilyn Bergeron’s family will not be making this type of legal request since no information or evidence presented to this date can be used to reach a conclusion of death for Marilyn.
Today marks the sad 7th anniversary of Marilyn’s disappearance. Nevertheless, her family wishes to thank the public for providing crucial information such as potential sightings. Marilyn’s family also extends her gratitude to the media and charity organizations like the The Missing Children’s Network and AFPAD for all the continuous support over the years. It helps the family tremendously with keeping Marilyn’s image in people’s memory.
Following a request from the investigators responsible for the disappearance case of Marilyn Bergeron, Sun Youth has renewed the rewards offered through the organization. The reward offer, of up to $10,000, will be extended until July 13, 2015. The website of the family of Marilyn will also be modified later this year to include new objectives in the search to find Marilyn.
It’s important to note that more than 200 cases of disappearances remain unresolved in the province of Québec, from children less than one year of age up to 83-year-old adults. Marilyn’s family send their best wishes of courage and strength to all the families affected by the tragic event of a disappearance, whether for a few hours or for several years.
There is still no single database between the various law enforcement agencies in the province of Quebec or in Canada.
The Family of Marilyn Bergeron