DAY 9 UPDATE — SEARCH FOR 11-YEAR-OLD PARKER WELLS CONTINUES AS ALBERTA COMMUNITY RALLIES TO BRING HIM HOME
Parker, an 11-year-old who is autistic and non-verbal, has been missing since July 16. In a statement posted Saturday, his family asked people to keep going. “Each day we continue to hope, to search, and to believe that bringing him home is possible,” they wrote. “Every hour matters. We are asking our community to stay with us, to keep looking, and to continue supporting the search in whatever way you can.”
Why the Amber Alert expired
The Amber Alert issued for Parker on July 19 has lapsed, and his family moved quickly to explain what that does and doesn’t mean.
“This is a normal part of how the Amber Alert system works and does not mean the search is ending, slowing down, or becoming any less urgent,” they wrote. “The Amber Alert was never intended to remain active indefinitely.” A missing child alert remains active, and the police effort has not slowed. The clarification matters, because an expiring alert can read as a case going cold, and this one hasn’t.
The search moves to Nose Hill Park
Police staged their weekend search command post at Nose Hill Park and closed the west parking lot and the trail entrance off Shaganappi Trail N.W. through the weekend.
The scale is still enormous. Lee Wayne of the Calgary Police missing persons team said in a Sunday video update that officers have set search parameters with frontline patrol, canvassed the public, gathered video, and taken in more than 500 tips. The Calgary Fire Department has run specialized teams throughout, aquatics crews on Nose Creek and nearby ponds, a technical rescue team in confined spaces including storm sewers, and station firefighters covering alleyways, parks and natural areas.
