Paul and Tammy hebert and faimly
But the house was empty — the Hebert family was staying with friends down the street while police desperately tried to find their 3-year-old son who had been abducted five days earlier.
Within moments, police cruisers raced to the Hebert home and found Kienan inside.
A few doors away, the Hebert family saw all the commotion and approached their home.
They saw Kienan, he saw them.
There were tears, hugs and laughter as the little boy was reunited with his family.
“All they (Kienan’s parents) kept saying was, ‘This is just wonderful. It’s him, it’s him,’” RCMP Cpl. Dan Moskaluk told the Toronto Star.
Kienan had been the subject of an intense search in western Canada and the U.S. after he was taken from his bed in the middle of the night on Tuesday by a stranger.
The sole suspect linked to the case, 46-year-old Randall Peter Hopley, is a convicted sex offender recently released from prison.
Police say Kienan is unharmed and adjusting well.
“This young boy was returned by an abductor. In 26 years of policing I have never seen this . . . ,” said an emotional Moskaluk.
At a news conference on Sunday afternoon, Paul Hebert, Kienan’s dad, thanked “the person who returned Kienan to our family”
“I would like to say thank you. It was the right thing to do. I thank God that Kienan was returned unharmed,” said Paul, his eyes welling up with tears.
“Kienan is happily home and he’s playing with his brothers and sisters. Thank you. Thank you.”
His wife, Tammy, sat next to him, tears running down her face.
At the Hebert home a few hours earlier, Kienan played on the front lawn with his seven siblings — he is the second youngest. At one point, a barefoot and giggling Kienan, in green, white and black shorts and a sleeveless T-shirt, sprayed his siblings with a squirt gun.
“Children are so resilient. I’ve seen it before,” Moskaluk said. “There are serious violent incidents with young children. They feel the emotion, but speaking as a father and looking at Kienan today playing with his brothers and sisters, he’s not skipping a beat.”
People in the young boy’s town of 3,900, about 260 kilometres southwest of Calgary, spent the day celebrating Kienan’s safe return.
Many questions, however, remain unanswered.
How did the abductor return Kienan to the scene of the crime unnoticed? How did the boy disappear in the first place, and what happened in the four days in between?
Most importantly, Hopley remains at large.
Hopley has a string of convictions dating to 1985 that range from sexual assault to break-and-enter. He just finished serving a two-month sentence for assaulting a woman outside the Sparwood Public Library and is on probation.
RCMP have said Hopley unsuccessfully attempted to lure another child the same evening Kienan went missing.
Moskaluk had a message for Hopley.
“Randall, if you’re listening, you need to reach out to the police,” he said. “We’re not going to put any other children at risk. We want this to be completed.”
Local media in Sparwood are reporting there is only one road in or out and driving to the Hebert house would have required driving past a search and rescue command post at the entrance to the suburb.
The Hebert home, which had been surrounded by yellow police tape since Kienan disappeared early Wednesday morning, had been thoroughly searched by investigators.
After Kienan’s return Sunday, the police tape was placed around the entire block. Later in the day investigators were scouring the house once again for more forensic evidence.
At the news conference, Moskaluk said investigators don’t know how Kienan was returned to the family home.
He declined to say whether the Hebert home was under surveillance when Kienan was returned. He also would not say whether Hopley had an accomplice or was working alone.
“In 26 year of policing, I’ve never seen anything like this,” said Moskaluk, referring to Kienan’s return. But he admitted, “taking the child undetected and then placing him back undetected certainly is a chilling prospect.”
The investigation is far from over, he said, adding the focus is now on finding Hopley and piecing together what happened in the days the child was missing.
He also made a direct plea to Hopley. “Randall, do the right thing and call us,” said Moskaluk.
More than 60 investigators were searching for Kienan — now they are hunting for Hopley.
In Sparwood, a tight-knit coal mining community, people celebrated Kienan’s return.
Hundreds of volunteers, on foot, horseback and all-terrain vehicles, had scoured the nearby woods and waterways in the past days.
Pastor Ron Rutley of the Sparwood Fellowship Baptist Church, the Hebert family’s home church, dedicated his Sunday service to Kienan’s plight.
“The whole town is able to breathe again,” Rutley said in an interview. “It was very emotional. We’re very ecstatic. In something like this, you see the best in people come out. Everyone just rallied.
“The second greatest commandment is love your neighbour as yourself, and I think that’s what we saw here.”
In addition to celebrating Kienan’s safe return, the congregation also prayed for Hopley.
“Certainly he’s made in the image of God, just like the rest of us. The difference between him and the rest of us is not a difference of kind, it’s just a difference of degree.”
Darlene Nickerson, a resident involved in the search for the little boy, said she was over overjoyed when she heard the news. She provided food for the search party while her husband scoured the neighbourhood on foot.
Source: thestar
