TORONTO – Five days after he was snatched from his bedroom, three-year-old Kienan Hebert was mysteriously returned safely to his Sparwood, B.C. home Sunday morning, but the manhunt continues for the prime suspect in the boy’s disappearance.
“To the person who returned Kienan to our family I’d like to say thank you,” Paul Hebert, the boy’s father, said amid sobs on Sunday.
“It was the right thing to do. I thank God that Kienan was returned unharmed.”
Exactly how Randall Peter Hopley was able to deliver Kienan to his home – still a crime scene on Sunday – totally unnoticed by police and locals remains unknown.
What is known is that the 46-year-old, a convicted sex offender, has a history of assault and several break and enter charges.
“Taking the child undetected and then placing him back undetected certainly is a chilling prospect,” RCMP Cpl. Dan Moskaluk admitted at a news conference Sunday.
With Kienan in good health and high spirits, police now turn their complete attention to the search for Hopley, setting up roadblocks on highways near Sparwood and meticulously checking vehicles to make sure he isn’t stealing rides with residents to evade police.
A troubled past
In the 1980s, Hopley served two years in federal prison for sexual assault. In 2002, he served a three-month conditional sentence for break and enter charges.
Just two months later, Hopley served a one-month conditional sentence for theft under $5,000.
In 2006 Hopley received a nine-month conditional sentence for another break-and-enter in Sparwood.
One year later, Hopley was again in trouble with the law on charges of break and enter, unlawful confinement and the attempted abduction of a person under 16 years old. He served 18 months, pleading guilty to break and enter charges. The other charges were dropped.
In April 2011, he served a two-month term for an assault that took place in Sparwood.
Court records and interviews with people who know him reveal Hopley had a difficult childhood. His father died in a mine accident when he was a toddler. His mother remarried shortly after.
Hopley’s step father, Doug Fink, says he hasn’t seen his stepson in over a year. He describes him as a problematic and out-of-control child.
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“I couldn’t handle him, he was running away and in trouble all the time,” Fink told The Canadian Press on Thursday.
“I didn’t want nothing to do with him, he’d only stay so long and he couldn’t help himself, he’d be in trouble again,” Fink said.
Local resident Orville Sheets has known Hopley for nearly 20 years. The 74-year-old describes the man as a quiet person, a “square shooter,” who didn’t like to be pushed around.
Others remember Hopley as a more sinister person. Lifelong Sparwood resident Dale Fedorek called him a “dirty, creepy guy.”
“In a small town, you always remember the goofy characters,” said Fedorek.
No
connection to the Hebert family
RCMP say there was no known connection between Hopley and Kienan
before the boy was taken from his home.
But RCMP want to speak with Hopley immediately. At a news
conference on Sunday, Moskaluk addressed him directly: “Randy, we just want to talk to you,”
Moskaluk said. “What we’ve got left to do is speak with you. It’s very, very
important that we speak to you right now.”
Police continue to protect any further investigative details
as to why Hopley was named the prime target in the first place, though they do
say they received a 911 dispatch call Sunday at 3 a.m. from an unknown man who
told police they would find Kienan unharmed in his family’s home.
Hopley was last seen
Tuesday, September 6 around the same time police believe Kienan disappeared. An AMBER Alert issued Wednesday continued through the
weekend until the boy was reunited with his family.
Hopley is believed to be driving a brown 1987 Toyota Camry
with the B.C. licence plate 098RAL.
More than 200 people took part in the initial ground search
near the Hebert home on Wednesday.
The number of volunteers grew steadily over the weekend until
Kienan was delivered by his alleged abductor. Many B.C. residents had taken
time out to check their rural properties or otherwise assist police in their
search for the young boy, who has a history of sleepwalking.
A forum for concern, outrage
Last week, Canadians shared their concerns for the boy’s safety, offering to join the search or assist police in any way.
Several Facebook groups were created for Kienan, including a “Find Kienan Herbert” group with nearly 6,000 likes. A group called “Pray for the safe return of Kienan Hebert” has over 8,000 members and continues to grow.
Hundreds of comments were posted from residents sharing information of their own search efforts. Many are pleading for people to spread the word in their communities; others share plans for candlelight vigils.
But many Canadians used Kienan’s disappearance to express outrage. The prevailing question: how could a man convicted of sexual offences live in a community without residents being made aware of his troubled past?
“I feel like we failed this little guy by allowing this monster back out into society, knowing what they did about him – Laws in this country MUST change, when little children are no longer safe in their own home asleep in their own beds,” Janet Lynn Wagner wrote on Facebook.
“I hope the justice system knows the(sic) screwed up and realize this could have been prevented and now look at the little guy! This guy better go away for like throw away the key,” wrote Kimberly Huber on Facebook.
Alisha Hedrick expressed her frustration over Hopley’s release from prison after several offences.
“Something that completely irritates me are the judges that keep letting these repeat offenders walk. If this man did abduct this little boy it could have been totally prevented. I am a huge believer of rehabilitation and reintegration but at what point do we stop with these offtenders (sic)…” Hedrick wrote on Facebook.
“Lets(sic) take the rights of the victims a little more seriously for once…Its (sic) about time we stop with the slap on the wrists and hand out some serious penalties and jail time,” she said.
A happy ending
On Friday afternoon, Hopley’s elderly mother issued a tearful plea for her son to turn himself in.
In frail health and hooked up to oxygen, Margaret Fink joins thousands of Canadians who had already expressed their shock over this alleged abduction.
“I would like Randy to come home with him and make sure (Kienan) is safe,” Fink said in an interview from her Fernie, B.C. home.
It seems her pleas, along with those of so many others, were not in vain.
For more on the reaction to Kienan’s safe return, click here.
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With files from The Canadian Press
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