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As the search for a missing Calgary boy continues, his family are asking people to continue looking even as an Amber Alert issued last week expired.
The 11-year-old, Parker, has been missing for 10 days as of Sunday.
“Each day we continue to hope, to search, and to believe that bringing him home is possible,” read a statement from the family posted Saturday on Facebook. “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.”
Search efforts continued Sunday, with police closing a parking lot and pathway entrance at Nose Hill Park through the weekend.
Though the search continues, the family also noted that an Amber Alert issued two days after Parker went missing has since expired.
But the family is stressing this expiry is “normal.”
“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,” the family wrote. “The Amber Alert was never intended to remain active indefinitely.”
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The alert was issued July 19, after the province issued an exemption to the alert for the vulnerable missing child.
Though his disappearance doesn’t meet the legislated criteria for an Amber Alert, the province granted an exemption because of the “unique circumstances of this investigation.”
Parker is neurodivergent and non-verbal and may become even more scared if confronted by strangers, according to police.
A missing child alert is still active.
Lee Wayne, the commanding officer of Calgary Police’s missing persons team, provided more details on the ongoing search and investigation into Parker’s disappearance in a video post Sunday.
Wayne said the team has worked with frontline patrol to determine search parameters and investigative steps that could be taken.
This has included a canvass speaking with members of the public and gathering video footage, and asking for tips. Wayne said more than 500 tips have already been received.
Parker went missing on July 16, and was last seen in the 5000 to 6000 block of Travis Crescent N.E. in the city’s Thorncliffe neighbourhood at around 12:52 p.m.
Police have previously asked residents on several nearby streets, including Travis Street, Travis Crescent, Trail Drive, Taylor Crescent and Travis Place N.E., to repeatedly check vacant homes and surrounding properties.
Local real estate agents have also joined the search, organizing checks of vacant properties and listings in and around Thorncliffe.
According to police, Parker is also known to close and lock doors behind him so people have been asked to check properties, sheds and other places even if a lock has been used as it’s possible the boy was the one who locked up.
—with files from Global News’ Prisha Dev and Rebecca Lau
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