Suspect’s Mom wants her son to come home and return missing boy

SPARWOOD, B.C. – The mother of a convicted sex offender wanted in the disappearance of a three-year-old boy is tearfully begging her son to turn himself in.

Margaret Fink says she hadn’t seen her son for about a year when he dropped by her house Tuesday.

The next day, Randall Hopley became the focus of an intense manhunt after police issued an Amber Alert as part of their efforts to find little Kienan Hebert.

“I would like him to come home and see me and if he could have a way to bring the boy home or even bring the boy to me I would be glad to be with him,” said a distraught Fink, 70, in an interview with The Canadian Press.

“I would just like him to come home and I’d like the family to have their child home too if Randy’s got him. I don’t think he’ll bother with him. I don’t think he will hurt him,” she said softly.

Kienan Hebert was last seen in his home in Sparwood, B.C., when he was put to bed Tuesday evening.

Police have not said what led them to connect Hopley, a 46-year-old with no relation to the family, with the boy’s disappearance.

Fink, said she last saw her son for about 10 minutes on Tuesday when he visited her at her home in nearby Fernie. Word that he was wanted by the police came as a shock to her despite her boy’s numerous clashes with the law throughout his life.

“I am worried about him. I haven’t slept very good. Last night I didn’t sleep at all. I was up walking around, worrying about him.”

“He can phone me or he can come to the house. I’m always home and he knows that.”

Fink said in the year since they last talked, she assumed her son was once again in jail.

Hopley has a lengthy criminal record, but Fink said he is a good son who called her frequently and liked to buy her flowers on her birthday. She said he was also good with his half dozen nieces and nephews whenever they would visit.

She said when he came in earlier this week, he gave her a hug and then said he was going shopping.

“I’m pretty sure he’ll come in. I don’t know where he would be though. I was trying to figure it out but I haven’t a clue.”

The RCMP is also urging Hopley to come forward

“No charges have been filed at this time. He is simply a suspect. We need and want to speak to him. We would ask that if he is aware that we are looking for him to do the right thing,” said RCMP Cpl. Dan Moskaluk.

“Approach any police service. Rest assured you will be treated with respect. We will work through this issue. The bottom line is we want and need to see Kienan Hebert returned,” he added.

Moskaluk said police were searching a home that Hopley had been living in prior to his disappearance and had been keeping it under surveillance in case he returned.

As of Friday morning, there were no confirmed sightings of Kienan or Hopley, despite a number of public tips, and no sign of them on local surveillance tapes, Moskaluk said.

A B.C. Ferry was turned around and sent back to port near Vancouver Friday afternoon after a tip that B.C. Ferries said was related to the Amber Alert. Police searched the vessel, but found nothing.

Kienan’s disappearance has sparked two simultaneous searches based on two competing theories of what may have happened to him.

Immediately after the boy was reported missing, hundreds of ground searchers began combing the area around his home with help from police dogs, an RCMP helicopter and military aircraft.

That search continued Friday, primarily focusing on an area within a kilometre from Kienan’s home, where he would likely be if he had wandered off on his own.

The other theory is that Kienan was abducted. To that end, RCMP have more than 20 investigators working on the case and the Amber Alert — which normally lasts 24 hours — was extended Thursday evening.

An Amber Alert hasn’t been issued in Alberta, but Moskaluk argued the intensive media coverage in that province has essentially achieved the same effect.

Hopley was convicted of sexual assault in the mid-1980s and was given a two-year federal prison sentence.

An incident in November 2007 led to charges of break and enter, unlawful confinement and attempted abduction, and the indictment for the case indicated the victim was under 16 years old.

B.C.’s Criminal Justice Branch has confirmed Hopley pleaded guilty to break and enter and was sentenced to 18 months in jail, while the other charges were stayed.

Crown spokesman Neil MacKenzie confirmed Hopley admitted at trial that he attempted to remove a 10-year-old boy, who was in foster care at the time. Hopley claimed he was acting on behalf of the child’s parents.

A preliminary hearing has been set for Sept. 19 in Pincher Creek, Alta. According to a court official in Lethbridge, Hopley faces 12 charges dating back to May 2010 in Crowsnest Pass. They include break and enter and possession of stolen property.

Two of Hopley’s recent defence lawyers declined to comment.

The focus on Hopley hasn’t diminished the ground search.

Search and rescue manager Simon Piney said more than 200 people were expected to be involved in the hunt for Kienan on Friday.

Piney said the Amber Alert hadn’t detracted from the need to keep searching.

“If it turns out that the person of interest (Hopley) is found and has an innocent explanation for everything, what we are dong now represents Kienan’s best chance of survival,” Piney told reporters.

“If he’s not near his home, that helps the RCMP significantly.”

Piney said statistics suggest a three-year-old child moving on his or her own would likely be within one kilometre of where they disappeared. He added that after four days, the chances of survival for a young child are about 70 per cent.

“We are still very much in that bracket where, if he’s out there, he has a pretty good chance of being OK,” Piney said.

Sparwood Coun. Lois Halko said she is proud of the community’s efforts. She said it’s also a sobering lesson to those who thought Sparwood was far removed from the world’s social ills.

“We almost feel we’re invincible. There’s really nothing here to raise red flags about anything significantly of danger in our community,” she said. “So you go along thinking life is pretty good, we’re pretty safe. So this gives us a huge feeling of vulnerability.”

Note to readers: FIXES spelling of Hebert in para 3

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