Second Amber Alert extension for missing boy from Sparwood

SPARWOOD (NEWS1130) – UPDATE 930PM: Second Amber Alert extension for missing Sparwood three-year-old.

An Amber Alert has been extended for a three-year-old boy police say may be with 46-year-old Randall Hopley, who could be driving a brown 1987 Toyota Camry, with BC license plate 098-RAL.

Kienan Hebert was last seen in his home in Sparwood, a small community about 600 kilometres east of Vancouver, when his family put him to bed Tuesday evening. By morning, he was gone, prompting an air and ground search of the surrounding area.

“The family reported that they had put the child to bed the previous evening and then around 8:30 a.m. checked on the child to get him up for the day and the child was not in bed where he should be.” says Corporal Dan Moskaluk.

The RCMP says the boy has red hair and was wearing “Scooby Doo” boxer shorts.

Kienan is one of eight children. His father Paul says Kienan’s six-year-old brother Caleb has had three heart surgeries, so this is a lot of the family to handle.

“He also could be lost. We won’t speculate on what’s going on. We hope for the best for Kienan’s safety and that he’s returned safe,” he conveys, adding that Kienan is a great kid and is a great spirit in the family.

Crews searching shoulder-to-shoulder

Search manager Simon Piney says they won’t stop looking for Kienan Hebert until someone tells them too.

Until then, Piney says they are throwing all the resources they can at finding Kienan. “We have horses out on trails… we have confined space experts in culverts and crawl spaces. We’ve had helicopter support from the RCMP and from various civilian agencies. We have… teams on the rivers [and] canine units.”

He explains if Kienan did walk away from his home, he could still be alive. “Statistics say in the cases that have been recorded of thousands of children wandering off… is that the chances of survivability out to 96 hours [are around] 70 per cent for a child in the age range of one to three years old.”

RCMP urge cabin owners to check their properties

People with cabins in the area surrounding Sparwood are being asked to check them for signs of a break-in or any other suspicious activity.

Mounties say it’s possible Hopley could be hiding in one as the search continues. Corporal Moskaluk says 500 people are search for the boy and his possible abductor and the community has been extremely helpful.

“I’ve seen vehicles myself, through my travels here over the past couple of days,” he explains. “People have got these documents, photos, licence plate, and that vehicle description on their dashboards. These are regular community members, so that’s appreciated.”

 Hopley’s home was also searched for the first time on Friday.

Kamloops RCMP look into tip

Around 8 o’clock Thursday night, Kamloops RCMP got a call from someone who thought they saw the brown 1987 Toyota Camry involved in the alert being driven on a busy road on the north shore of the city.

The caller also thought the plates may have been a match with the suspect vehicle.

Sgt. Nathalie Fehr says they took the tip very seriously. “We created a perimeter for all highways coming in and out of Kamloops, and searched for this vehicle. We are continuing our investigation and looking at all possible evidence or information.”

She says the caller didn’t get the full plate, so they can’t be sure it’s the right car. Police spent 90 minutes searching, but found nothing. They are asking people in the area to be on the lookout.

Fehr doesn’t know if the suspect has any ties to the Kamloops area.

Corporal Moskaluk says there is no surveillance video of Kienen or Hopley and no confirmed sightings of them, either.

Hopley’s past

In 2008, Hopley was sentenced to 18 months in jail for a break-in that occurred the previous fall in Sparwood, according Alberta’s Crowsnest Pass Promoter.

The paper says he was also charged with one count of unlawful confinement and one count of abduction but those charges were dropped due to a lack of evidence.

“The charges stemmed from an incident where the main witness was a 10-year-old boy who was described as being a high-needs mentally challenged child,” the paper says. “The boy told his foster mother Hopley had broken into the home and on two occasions, tried to push the lad out of his bedroom window.”

Hopley claimed he tried to abduct the boy from foster care and transfer him to his biological parents for $2,800. A search of Hopley’s residence revealed pictures of the boy, a suitcase of children’s clothing, some of the boy’s medication and GoodNites underwear for children with bed-wetting problems.

Hopley has had 11 previous break-in convictions as well as having been found guilty of a sexual assault in 1985, according to the Promoter.

Moskaluk says Hopley does not know the child missing from Sparwood, and he won’t or can’t say why police believe the three-year-old might be with him.

Citizens say alert should have been issued earlier

Calgary Sun reporter Renato Gandia is in Sparwood and says parents aren’t happy with the way Mounties have handled this case.

“It is still a sombre mood here. People are concerned and fearing for the safety of their kids. They are questioning RCMP’s decision of issuing the Amber Alert later in the day. People feel the Amber Alert should have been issued earlier so that the information was made public earlier.”

Gandia has talked to parents who think police should have told them Hopley was living in their community when he got out of jail.

Mounties are defending how they’ve used the Amber Alert system. Corporal Dan Moskaluk says there will be a review. “With respect to the semantics of where we’re at, there are certainly higher level official discussions, examination, and review of that matter.”

Police watching borders

Police are trying to cast the net as wide as possible. Officers in Calgary and the US are involved in the search for Kienan.

Border guards are also on high alert, so if the man believed to have the boy heads in that direction, he won’t get very far, according to Tom Schreiber is with US Customs and Border Protection. “If we have a vehicle description and it is a serious emergency… yes we can put it into our database.”

Doris Stapleton with the RCMP E Division in Alberta tells us they’re working closely with BC Mounties. “All our members in Alberta are aware of the missing boy. We are on heightened awareness at the moment, and we take this matter very, very seriously.”

Sparwood is a little over three hours to Calgary and the same distance to cross into the States.

How the community is coping

Sparwood is a small community in the Rockies with a population of less than 4,000. People there are crushed by Kienan’s disappearance.

Former Sparwood mayor David Wilks says people in his community also came together when eight snowmobilers were killed in a avalanche three years ago. “I have lived there 16 years. The citizens of Sparwood are very close-knit and will work together to get anyone through any type of situation.”

He says people living there have a lot of experience dealing with tragedies. “One has to recognize that in the coal industry that we are in, there were a number times that fatalities occurred underground that bonded the community together and that mentality has continued over the years.”

Town councillor Jim Banks says as soon as word spread that Hebert was missing, people responded immediately. “Half of the community is out on the ground search.”

He says that’s how it is in a place where everybody knows everybody. “If something happens to one family, it filters to the rest of the community,” he notes.

Jill Kelly works at a local hotel where Kienan’s father was manager. “Everybody here is extremely sad and worried,” she says. “He’s a very nice, caring man. He’s got a big family and he loves his kids. It’s affected everybody here. Everybody is so upset.”

She tells us everyone is pitching in. “People are out searching, organizing search parties, people have taken time off work to go out and help… Here at the hotel, we were making coffee last night for them.”