A day after a blind and non-verbal Edmonton woman was abducted in central Edmonton, police have released a photo of two men suspected in the crime that triggered a short-lived Amber Alert.
“Investigators believe these are the two male suspects who stole the vehicle (last night) with a vulnerable 40-year-old woman seated in a wheelchair inside the vehicle,” Edmonton Police Service northwest branch Staff Sgt. Andrew Larson said in a statement Friday afternoon.
The woman was taken at 7:25 p.m. Thursday in the area of 118th Avenue and 91st Street. An Amber Alert was issued about an hour later.
Police said the van she was in was left idling outside of a store while her caregiver ran inside to make a quick purchase.
“It was just an unfortunate situation,” Larson said during a Friday afternoon news conference, while reiterating the importance of locking vehicles.
The stolen 2013 white Toyota Sienna van was discovered by an off-duty RCMP officer parked and still running on a street in Fort Saskatchewan shortly thereafter, just before 9 p.m.
Trina Smith lives across the street from where the van was found.
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She said she heard a vehicle speeding down her road and looked outside. She saw a white van and, having just received the Amber Alert on her phone, it set off her spidey senses.
“Then within like 45 seconds to a minute, there was four or five cop cars down here on the street. An ambulance rolled up a fire truck. A lot of hustle and bustle right away.”
Smith said she could see a woman in the back of the van, which she said appeared to be modified with a wheelchair lift. She said EMS arrived and began to assess the abducted woman, who was loaded onto a stretcher.
“She seemed to be all right. And we did overhear the cop saying that she didn’t really appear to be too agitated or anything. I suspect just didn’t really know what was going on.”
Normally Amber Alerts are issued for children, not middle-aged women – but this victim was different. Her lack of vision and ability to speak puts her in a vulnerable position and when she saw the notice, Smith’s heart sank. She works with people who live with disabilities at a not-for-profit called Prospect Human Services.
“It really hit close to home because I work with individuals like that every day. So it was scary.”
The woman was found safe and unharmed inside the van. Once on scene, police said EMS transported the woman to hospital purely for precautionary reasons.
“We’re extremely grateful to the community and our RCMP partners who located the stolen vehicle and helped bring this woman back to her family safe and unharmed,” Larson said.
Alberta is one of the few provinces that issues alerts not just for abducted children, but also adults with a proven mental or physical disability.
“It was a huge concern last night. Yeah, it was it was kind of a one of those all-hands-on-deck kind of investigations,” Larson said of police responding to the abduction.
“It was a major investigation at the time and I know everybody was relieved when she was found.”
Edmonton Police Service spokesperson Scott Pattison stressed the Amber Alert directly led to the woman being found quickly.
“That Amber Alert system worked like clockwork,” he said. “It got everybody’s attention in a very expeditious time. In these sorts of investigations, I mean, timing is everything.”
“It was essential,” Larson agreed. “It reached basically a regular citizen – I know he is an off-duty member but it reached a regular citizen who was then alerted to the vehicle in that area. So in this case, it was extremely valuable and end up locating that vehicle in a short period time.”
The commotion got the neighbourhood chatting, Smith said.
“I believe a gentleman had said he had saw someone running towards kind of the open field down the street here,” she said. “And then we did see the cops come with the dogs and they were kind of led on a trail down the street as well.”
The RCMP canine unit was called to scene, but Edmonton police said they were unable to find the two men.
“We continue to look for any information that will lead us to these two male suspects,” Larson said.
Police released a photo of the two suspects:
Anyone with information regarding the men or their current whereabouts is urged to contact the EPS at 780-423-4567 or #377 from a mobile phone.
Anonymous information can also be submitted to Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477 or online.
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