Elk Valley RCMP have issued an AMBER ALERT in its efforts to locate 3 year old Kienan Hebert of Sparwood BC, reported missing from the family home this morning, Wednesday September 7, 2011.
Anyone who may have seen Kienan, Randall Hopley or Hopley’s vehicle are asked to call 9-1-1 immediately. “The scene is being treated as a crime scene and we are examining it for any evidence,” he said.
Hebert has short red hair and was wearing Scooby-Doo boxer shorts when he went missing.
Volunteers are needed to help find Kienan. Please met at the church in Sparwood Heights at 8:30AM Friday morning. Wear pants and appropriate footwear for rough terrain. Food and water will be provided.
RCMP say he may have three blankets with him.
The small town in East Kootenay was awash with public notices asking people for help to locate the boy.
A local hotel had several posters in the lobby with Kienan’s picture while some flyers sat by the counter.
A massive electronic board on Sparwood’s welcome arch flashed with a plea for help find the boy.
Mounties are slated to brief the media about the latest development in the manhunt for Hopley and the search for the missing boy.
The father of a three-year-old boy from Sparwood feared abducted by a convicted sex offender says he’s hopeful his son will be found.
Paul Hebert, whose son Kienan has been missing since early Wednesday, said they’re not losing hope for his son’s safe return.
“I’m a hundred per cent hopeful that Kienan will be back here safely,” he told reporters Thursday.
The disappearance of Kienan Hebert was first thought linked to a case of sleepwalking, which the boy has been known to do.
But later Wednesday an Amber Alert was activated and Mounties said they suspect the toddler may have been abducted by Randall Peter Hopley, 46, who may be with the boy in a brown 1987 Toyota Camry with B.C. licence #098RAL.
Hopley is white with brown hair, hazel eyes, and a birthmark along his hairline.
He is not related to the boy.
In 2008 Hopley, of Sparwood, was sentenced to 18 months in jail for a break-in that occurred the previous fall in the East Kootenay town.
He was also charged with one count of unlawful confinement and one count of abduction, but those two charges were dropped due to a lack of evidence.
The dropped charges stemmed from accusations Hopley broke into a home and twice tried to push a 10-year-old mentally challenged boy through a window, with Hopley claiming he was attempting to return the child to his biological parents for $2,800.
A search warrant at Hopley’s home uncovered 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, who has 11 previous break-in convictions, was convicted of sexual assault in 1985.
RCMP Cpl. Dan Moskaluk said Hopley was on probation with numerous conditions, but couldn’t say what led police to search for him as a suspect.
Hebert made an appeal to the suspected kidnapper, asking him to return his son.
“If it’s you just bring Kienan back safe,” he said.
Hebert said their faith in God is what has kept the family going through this trying time.
“Only God can deal with what we’re dealing with,” he said.
“We can’t deal with it, we’re only human.”
Moskaluk said the boy has never actually wandered outside the family’s home in Sparwood Heights off Hwy. 43 before.
