When three-year-old Kienan Hebert went missing from his Sparwood home last week, it seemed the whole province was on the look out for his alleged kidnapper, Randall Hopley, and his brown Toyota Camry car.
People from all over the province called the authorities after thinking they may have seen the suspect or his car. Even in the Cariboo, a resident in the 140-Mile-House area called police after seeing a vehicle matching the one belonging to Hopley, and roadblocks were set up as far north as Dawson Creek as another person saw someone matching his description.
Then, a miraculous thing happened. The kidnapper took the little boy home, an outcome many hoped for but few likely expected.
Now, while many are rejoicing the safe return of Kienan, many are also asking why Hopley is still on the loose and why police couldn’t catch him when the boy was returned home at about 3 a.m. Sunday morning.
The RCMP have released no details explaining whether the RCMP were watching the residence at the time or, if they weren’t there, why no one was there, especially after making a televised plea to Hopley to bring the boy home.
While there are many unanswered questions, we hope those questions will eventually be answered.
We also hope Hopley will choose to do the right thing and turn himself into authorities, so no more parents have to worry that he may break into their homes and steal their loved ones in the middle of the night.
But in the meantime, we breathe a huge sigh of relief, and our faith that other missing children will come home safely has grown a little stronger.