BC RCMP have ended an earlier Amber Alert now that the two BC children, their mother and their alleged abductor have been located.
“By 3:30pm PT (6:30pm ET) today (Saturday), the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) confirmed that they had located the vehicle and the four individuals in Kenora, Ontario, just east of Manitoba” said Sergeant Chris Manseau with BC RCMP. “The man was taken into custody. The mother and her two children are safe and receiving support.”
The Amber Alert was issued earlier on Saturday, after RCMP in Fort St. John said they believed 10-month old Myra Bellamy and her 4-year old brother Liam Bellamy, along with their 23-year old mother Dawn Bellamy, were allegedly taken against their will on March 24th.
BC RCMP say the suspect, 36-year old Jason Dalrymple, is being held in custody. Charges are said to be pending.
No word on what charges Dalrymple may be facing.
“We would like to thank our law enforcement partners in Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Ontario who where instrumental in finding everyone so quickly” said Manseau. “They extended the Amber Alert in their provinces, followed up on TIPS and conducted searches.”
The Amber Alert program was launched in BC in 2004, but is rarely activated.
There have been a number of recent incidents involving parental abductions which have not met the RCMP’s standards for issuing an Amber Alert.
According to the RCMP:
Amber Alert is only activated by authorized users within law enforcement agencies. All of following conditions must be met before activating an Amber Alert:
- The victim is under the age of 18
- Police have reasonable grounds to believe that the victim has been abducted
- Police have reasonable grounds to believe the victim is in imminent danger
- Police have obtained enough descriptive information about the victim, abductor and/or the vehicle involved
- Police believe that the alert can be issued in a time frame that will provide a reasonable expectation that the child can be returned or the abductor apprehended
“Since (activation of the Amber Alerts in BC in 2004), all activations have successfully ended with all individuals being safely located,” added Manseau.