BC Amber Alert: Mom believed to be travelling with kids and two other men
Editor’s Note: This story has been updated to remove any reference to the children involved after they were found safe on July 29, 2023.
New details are being provided into the ongoing search for two children in BC and the suspect who is alleged to have taken them. The RCMP now says the suspect is believed to be travelling with two men who she knows.
Surrey RCMP says the kid’s mother, 45, is believed to be with her father, and her boyfriend.
“The children were seen in Merritt on July 7, in the company of the mother and two males, and at that time, the pickup truck was towing a large travel trailer,” Cpl. Vanessa Munn said on Thursday afternoon.
Surrey RCMP
Surrey RCMP
Police also sent out a photo of a dirty dark blue truck pulling another trailer Verity’s believed to be driving. It’s described as a 2012 Dodge Ram 2500 with the licence plate SJ2708. The trailer is a white bumper pull horse/utility style.
Munn added that at this time they are not believed to be travelling across the border.
Mounties say the mother was supposed to return their children to their father, who has primary custody, on July 17.
“We had concerns that the mother was not able to properly care for the children,” Munn said Thursday.
The mother has since been suspected of abducting her two children when they were not returned and no one was able to make contact with them, RCMP explained.
An Amber Alert was issued on July 19.
When the Amber Alert was issued, the mother and children’s were previously seen at Krafty’s Kitchen and Bar in Kelowna.
Investigators say since they’ve confirmed the mother was grocery shopping on Saturday, July 15 in Kamloops and have released a surveillance image where she’s seen wearing an all-black outfit with a baseball cap and sunglasses. However, based video surveillance, the children were not seen in the store, police said.
The RCMP did not provide more information on if she has any history with police.
If you have any information about the mother or children contact your local police department.
Emergency alerts
Multiple emergency alerts have gone out to cell phones across British Columbia, with some people receiving four or more. Some have complained about the loud alarm associated with one of the push notifications that went out around 11 pm Wednesday night.
The RCMP said the repeated alerts could be a technical glitch or an issue with service providers and they are looking into that further.
According to the RCMP, Amber Alerts are sent when the victim or victims is under the age of 18, police have reasonable grounds to believe that the victim or victims have been abducted, there are reasonable grounds to believe the victim or victims are in imminent danger, and police have obtained enough descriptive information about the victims, abductor and/or the vehicle involved.
Additionally, the alert must be issued in a time frame that will provide a reasonable expectation that the child can be returned or the abductor apprehended.
The BC government tells Daily Hive Surrey RCMP is doing the emergency alerts.