With more than a week since a 14-year-old Jewish girl in Toronto went missing, the Toronto Police Service has escalated the search to Priority 1, opening a dedicated tip hotline and offering a $25,000 reward for information leading to her safe return.

Shomrim has been organizing search parties and manning a hotline from the beginning and working with TPS, which said that while Esti had been missing since Friday, May 15, she was briefly spotted the following day at midnight in the Bathurst Street and Hotspur Road area.

TPS also said that she had last been seen wearing a turquoise sweater, grey sweatpants, and no shoes and was diagnosed on the autism spectrum. She is 5’2″ and has brown hair.

James Pasternak, a Toronto city councillor, posted on X about the girl’s disappearance.

“The search for missing youth Esti has now been escalated to Priority 1,” he wrote. “Bringing her home safely remains our top priority. We joined Esti’s family today as the search continues, and we are grateful to the Toronto Police and Inspector Peter Wallace for dedicating every available resource to this effort.”

“Please continue sharing Esti’s information and keep her family in your thoughts,” he added. “If you have seen her or have any information, call 911 and contact Shomrim Toronto at (647) 557-6735.”

“Let’s bring Esti home safely,” he concluded.

Esti’s parents also addressed her in a news conference, urging her to come home safely and assuring her that she would not be in any trouble upon her return.

Pleading with the public to help search by doing such things as checking security cameras, Esti’s mother Shira said, “As a mother, there is no pain worse than not knowing where your child is or whether she is safe. Please help us bring our child home.”

Michael Kerzner, Ontario’s solicitor general, also said in a video statement Sunday as he stood next to Rabbi Chaplain Shmuel Neft of the TPS that bringing Esti home safe is the highest priority and urged the public to help. He joins other political leaders in bringing awareness to the public of the missing teen, such as York Centre member of Parliament Roman Baber and federal opposition leader Pierre Poilievre, who formerly ran against Mark Carney for the position of prime minister.