UPDATE: Canadian girl thought missing in Costa Rica found

UPDATE Aug. 7, 3:20 p.m.: On Friday afternoon the family of Alysson Mercier posted on Facebook that she had been found.

https://www.facebook.com/HelpFindAlyssonMercier/posts/953420661385101

Original post continues here.

Relatives of a 20-year-old Canadian girl fear she has gone missing in Costa Rica after the family unexpectedly lost contact with her nearly three weeks ago.

Alysson Mercier from Gatineau, Quebec, reportedly arrived in Costa Rica on July 16 in the latest leg of a trip throughout Latin America that started in January. Mercer stopped updating her social media accounts and communicating with her family on July 19, according to Mercier’s aunt, Nancy Allard, in an interview with Quebec’s FM 1047 on Friday. According to Allard, Mercier was in San José the last time the family had contact with her.

Mercier had been checking in with her family every day during her trip, Allard said. When three days passed without word, the family contacted the police.

A Facebook page set up by the family on Thursday asking for information about Mercier’s whereabouts included a post from a user named Edgar Mata who claimed to have seen Mercier in La Fortuna, San Carlos, near Arenal Volcano, on Monday, July 20 when the two of them were on the same tour.

Allard said the family was frustrated by the perceived lack of action from the Canadian Embassy in Costa Rica, including its decision to not issue a missing persons report. The Judicial Investigation Police (OIJ), which handles missing persons cases in Costa Rica, said in an email that it had not received a missing person report for Mercier as of Friday morning.

Canadian Embassy spokeswoman Andrea Vásquez told The Tico Times that the embassy had received a missing person alert but did not comment further, citing Canadian privacy laws.

Mercier has traveled alone before, the family said in the radio interview, and had visited Cancún, Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador, and Nicaragua before she arrived in Costa Rica.

Visit the Help Find Alysson Mercier Facebook page to share any information about this case.