Police fear missing boy abducted by sex offender 李翊君

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Police fear missing boy abducted by sex offender
Kienan's father says finding the boy's bed empty gave him a "sick feeling"

FRIDAY, 5 a.m. UPDATE: According to reports, RCMP received a tip of a possible sighting of 46-year-old Randall Hopley in Kamloops at approximately 8 p.m. on Thursday. Hopley is a convicted sex offender who is a suspect in the disappearance of 3-year-old Sparwood boy, Kienan Hebert.


More information to come...


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The prime suspect in the disappearance of a Sparwood boy was denied parole during a 1985 prison sentence for sexual assault in “matters relating to children” because a psychiatrist noted he was likely to repeat the crime.

On Wednesday, police in an Amber Alert identified Randall Hopley, 46, as the chief suspect after three-year-old Kienan Hebert vanished from his home, triggering a massive search for both.

Police expanded their search to Alberta and Washington state on Thursday, while search and rescue crews continued to comb the rugged area around Sparwood, aided by a helicopter, dogs and hundreds of volunteers.

A team of five specially-trained search and rescue trackers was also helping with a more deliberate inspection for footprints and evidence in the area, said Ed Ehrler, Sparwood’s search and rescue manager.

People as far away as Kelowna have offered to help with the search, he added.

Near the Hebert home, in the Sparwood Heights area, off Highway 43 North, search crews combed the most obvious places — empty attics, basements, fields and trees — in hopes the child could be hiding.

From the thick underbrush surrounding the mountain suburb, there was the sound of a dozen trekking feet and a lone female voice wailing, “Kienan. Mommy loves you,” again and again.

Simon Piney, one of the managers of the search and rescue effort, said the call was being used deliberately to try to draw the child out.

“Kids are often scared by strangers, so if he hears a bunch of people crashing through the woods yelling, ‘Hey, hey, hey,’ he’s more likely to hide,” Piney said.

“We talked to his mom and asked her for trigger words. She thought this was more likely to be something he’d respond to.”

Friday, the search crews will begin to scour less probable locations, such as valleys and the Rocky Mountain wilderness.

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Hebert’s family first reported him missing at 8:30 a.m. on Wednesday. The investigation then evolved from a missing persons case to a possible abduction and an Amber Alert was issued around 6 p.m.

Elk Valley RCMP named Hopley as a suspect in the alert, but police could not comment on a specific link. Hopley is “a stranger to the family,” RCMP Cpl. Dan Moskaluk said.

Hopley has an extensive list of charges and convictions, including break-and-enter, theft, assault and the 1985 sexual assault.

The majority of Hopley’s arrests have come in and around the Sparwood area.

On Thursday morning, Hebert’s father came forward, thanking everyone for their help.

“We’re 100-per-cent hopeful that Kienan will be back safely,” Paul Hebert told reporters gathered in Sparwood.

The father of eight said finding his son’s bed empty on Wednesday morning gave him a “sick feeling” in his gut.

He wouldn’t comment directly on the suspect in the case, but said the family is looking to God for help. “We can’t deal with it; we’re only human,” he said.

In 2008, Hopley served 18 months in prison for a 2007 break-in involving a 10-year-old mentally challenged boy in Sparwood, according to local media.

The boy reportedly told his foster mother that Hopley broke into the home twice and tried to push him out his bedroom window.

Hopley said he wanted to take the child away from foster care and give him back to his biological parents for a sum of $2,800.

A search warrant of Hopley’s home found pictures of the boy, some of the boy’s medication, and a suitcase full of the boy’s clothes and underwear for children who have bedwetting accidents, local media reported.

Despite that discovery, charges of unlawful confinement and abduction were dropped by authorities because of a lack of evidence.

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However, Provincial Court Judge Ron Webb noted during that ruling that Hopley was found guilty of a sexual assault in 1985 in “matters relating to children,” according to the Cranbrook Daily Townsman.

In 1987, The Vancouver Sun reported Hopley’s lawyer was arguing that his client should be released on parole, but that he was ordered to serve the balance of his sentence after a psychiatrist said he was likely to reoffend.

Wednesday’s Amber Alert was issued after a major ground search around the Hebert family’s home, which is located in the Whiskey Jack Resort — a housing development surrounded by a golf course that is still under construction.

Nearly 500 volunteers showed up for a shoulder-to-shoulder search for Hebert on Wednesday, said search and rescue’s Ehrler.

A smaller, strategic, search party consisting of 30 search and rescue members and about 80 volunteers focused on a more tactical search Thursday, targeting locations near the home where the boy may have ended up.

“We haven’t had anything really jump out at us yet,” Ehrler said. “We’re trying to keep an open mind.”

Sparwood is a tight-knit coal-mining community of fewer than 5,000 people.

Hopley is white, with brown hair and eyes, and a birthmark along his hairline.

He may now be driving a brown 1987 Toyota Camry with the B.C. licence plate 098 RAL, police said.

Hebert has short red hair and was last seen wearing Scooby Doo boxer shorts.


Police are searching for this man, Randal Hopley, 46, in possible connection with the disappearance of 3-year-old Kienan Herbert




A sign at a Tim Hortons for a three year-old boy, Kienan Hebert, who went missing in Sparwood, British Columbia Thursday, September 8, 2011


RCMP released this photo of a 1987 Toyota Camry as an example of the vehicle they are searching for in connection to the disappearance of 3-year-old Kienan Hebert.



Three-year-old Kienan Hebert of Sparwood who was reported missing from the family home early Wednesday morning.