A thick coat of snow covers the neighbourhood where Cédrika Provencher was last seen nearly five months ago.

Kiddie swimming pools in front yards have given way to snowmen as faded posters of the little Quebec girl flap in the wind on the few mailboxes and street lamps where they remain.

While Quebec provincial police are reportedly zeroing in on five possible suspects, including some with a history of sexual crimes, there have been no traces of the freckle-faced brunette and no confirmed sightings of her since her July 31 disappearance.

Cédrika's 10th birthday passed in August without any developments, and her grandfather has been dreading the holiday season without her.

"For Karine, for Martin, it's going to be terrible," says Henri Provencher, referring to the girl's mother, Karine Fortier, and her father, Martin Provencher. The two are separated.

"It's terrible for all of us."

There is a huge hole in their lives, Henri Provencher says. He is sitting in the second-floor search headquarters where he, his wife and his son work full-time on their efforts to find Cédrika.

Dozens of handwritten notes of support are taped to the walls of the rundown office located above an abandoned restaurant. Hundreds more e-mails have come in from all over the world.

"Come back to us," wrote Antony in childish scrawl on a piece of paper decorated with roses.

The little girl's face peers out from T-shirts and coffee cups the family is selling to raise money for their search.

Stacks of posters recount the details of the little girl lost: five feet tall, 70 pounds, brown eyes, last seen wearing a green summer dress over a red swimsuit.

Cédrika disappeared not far from her home in a quiet neighbourhood in Trois-Rivières, 140 kilometres northeast of Montreal.

Witnesses have said she told them she was helping a man look for a lost dog. She never made it home again.

Thousands of tips followed up

Police, bolstered by hundreds of volunteers, combed alleys and woods for weeks in the picturesque town along the St. Lawrence River. They chased thousands of tips and followed up reported sightings from Calgary to Fredericton, to no avail.

One reported sighting after another was discounted by police.

Cédrika's father has undergone a lie detector test and police have checked up on more than 80 known pedophiles living in the area.

"Losing a child is terrible, not knowing where your child is," said Martin Provencher. "But no matter what I'm going through, what she's going through is worse."

Both he and Fortier have made several emotional appeals to the public.

"I'm convinced that there's someone, somewhere who knows something," said Fortier.

She urged people to come forward with even the smallest detail, saying the information could turn out to be key to police. They have not given up hope their daughter will come home.

"She could be alive," Provencher said one recent afternoon as he awaited yet another meeting with provincial police. "Children in this situation can be alive. He [whoever took Cédrika] can leave Cédrika somewhere."

Until then, he said, he will continue the search that has consumed his life these last five months. "The more we search, the more likely he will make an error, the more he risks exposing something," he said.

Henri Provencher said the holiday period is "excessively difficult."

"Sometimes, it's like we're in a nightmare, but unfortunately, it's reality," he said. "We can't fall into despair. It's hope that keeps us going forward."

There's still a lot of information coming in and among it could be the key, he said, in tears. "You receive information of all kinds, of course. You receive information saying she is alive and others that say 'I killed her.'

"There are all kinds of people who do all kinds of things."

Barb Snider, international case director for the Missing Children's Society, said it is extremely difficult for families when their child's disappearance fades from the headlines.

"Their children are still missing and they don't want anybody to forget," she said.

Abductions by strangers are rare

According to the Missing Children's Network Canada, of more than 60,400 children considered missing in 2006, only 46 were believed to be abducted by strangers.

Snider said support is important for those families, but "not all parents are eager to participate at the beginning."

"It's very difficult for them to speak to other parents, especially when it comes to a stranger-type abduction," she said.

"Statistics, unfortunately, show that the recovery of these children alive and well are not high. So, we're usually putting parents in touch with other parents whose child … their body has been found or they're still missing many years down the road. Sometimes that's very difficult to deal with."

Police, family at odds

In the months since Cédrika was last seen, the relationship between the family and police has become more strained.

Henri Provencher is critical of the way police handled the investigation in those first crucial hours and days. They did not issue an Amber Alert or send her photo to U.S. border guards.

They should have cast a wide net immediately, he said. 

Martin Provencher says police aren't sharing information with the family. He has come under criticism himself for the very active role he's had in the media, but he's unapologetic.

"My life right now is to find my daughter," he said. "My role is not to be a celebrity. I want to find my daughter."

Henri Provencher said he's not worried that the public might have forgotten his granddaughter. "I don't think people will forget," he said.

"This could be anybody's child. People don't want it to be this easy to take a child."

Police have also been looking for a French-speaking man between the ages of 30 and 40 with light brown hair and a medium build.

He was seen driving a four-door red Acura built between 2002 and 2004.

Police said it may have a beige interior and chrome door handles.

There is a $100,000 reward for information leading to a break in the case. The police hotline is still active at 1-800-659-4264.