{"id":817895,"date":"2026-07-22T05:02:16","date_gmt":"2026-07-22T05:02:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/817895\/"},"modified":"2026-07-22T05:02:16","modified_gmt":"2026-07-22T05:02:16","slug":"community-rallies-to-search-for-missing-11-year-old-calgary-boy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/817895\/","title":{"rendered":"Community rallies to search for missing 11-year-old Calgary boy"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

A T-shirt bearing a missing-person poster for Parker is worn by Steve Phan, a civilian volunteer search coordinator, at the Greenview community staging area in Calgary on Tuesday.Amir Salehi\/The Globe and Mail<\/p>\n

The sheet-white, carrot-nosed face of Olaf, the snowman from Disney\u2019s Frozen, poked out from Dayle Demyon\u2019s backpack on Tuesday as she and roughly a dozen others took instructions from volunteers in a parking lot outside a recreation centre in northwest Calgary.<\/p>\n

A large map of their neighbourhood was splayed across a table. Papers that said \u2018MISSING,\u2019 with photos of Parker, an 11-year-old boy wearing large over-ear headphones, were stacked atop one another.<\/p>\n

Ms. Demyon said she pulled Olaf from storage when she heard Parker, who went missing last Thursday, was a fan of Disney. She\u2019s holding out hope that, if she finds the boy, Olaf\u2019s presence will make him more comfortable.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just figured it won\u2019t hurt to put it sticking out of my backpack,\u201d Ms. Demyon said before getting in a car with her friend, Julia McIntosh, to search for the boy along Nose Creek, a tributary that flows into the Bow River.<\/p>\n

Search for missing Calgary boy hampered by misinformation spreading online<\/a><\/p>\n

Ms. Demyon and Ms. McIntosh are among the estimated hundreds of Calgary residents who have searched for Parker since he went missing last Thursday morning. The boy, who is neurodivergent and non-verbal, has been difficult to track despite a sweeping effort by civilians and more than 400 police officers. His sudden disappearance has left many Calgarians shaken as concern for his well-being grows.<\/p>\n

Parker was last seen at what police described as his day home in a residential northwest Calgary neighbourhood, and video footage published by police has shown him walking near a busy intersection a few kilometres away.<\/p>\n

Calgary police don\u2019t suspect foul play is involved.<\/p>\n

In an unsigned statement disseminated last weekend by Calgary police, his family wrote: \u201cParker experiences the world in his own way.\u201d<\/p>\n

He was last seen shirtless, wearing grey shorts and black noise-cancelling headphones over his head.<\/p>\n

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

A missing-person poster for Parker is displayed at the entrance to Nose Hill Park in northwest Calgary on Tuesday. The park, located near the Calgary Winter Club, is among the areas being searched by police and volunteers for the 11-year-old boy, who disappeared from his care home on July 16.Amir Salehi\/The Globe and Mail<\/p>\n

Save for the few pieces of CCTV footage, Parker has left little trace of his whereabouts. Some distance from his day home, police discovered clothing belonging to him. Police have asked nearby residents to check their backyards, garages and under their decks \u2013 anywhere a child may look to hide.<\/p>\n

\u201cSince he went missing, our family has been living every parent\u2019s worst nightmare. Every hour that passes without knowing where he is or whether he is safe has been incredibly devastating for us,\u201d his family wrote.<\/p>\n

On Monday, Calgary police Acting Staff Sergeant Scott Guterson described Parker\u2019s disappearance as \u201catypical.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat makes this one unique is that complete lack of foul play,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

Calgary police did not hold a media availability on Tuesday, and in a news release said they aren\u2019t giving up the search for Parker.<\/p>\n

Police play Disney music from cruisers as volunteers join search for missing Calgary boy<\/a><\/p>\n

Calgary\u2019s police service has deployed aerial support, canine resources, mountain bike patrols, mounted patrols, and extensive searches of nearby waterways and railways. On Saturday, the third day since Parker disappeared, police cruisers crawled through neighbourhoods playing Disney tracks such as Frozen\u2019s \u201cLet it Go\u201d in their bid to get Parker\u2019s attention.<\/p>\n

Outside the northwest Calgary recreation centre on Tuesday, volunteers traded theories about where Parker may have travelled, sketching rough maps into notebooks and testing ideas against each other to decide where they should spend the day searching. Groups of all ages pulled into the parking lot to help, from young mothers to elderly couples.<\/p>\n

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Vishnu Thottikat explains the search area to a volunteer at the Greenview community staging area in Calgary on Tuesday.Amir Salehi\/The Globe and Mail<\/p>\n

Tanya Houle, a Calgary resident, had reviewed the publicly released CCTV footage of Parker and drawn a map of where she suspected he had travelled. She believes the lack of video footage means Parker didn\u2019t travel far from the busy intersection he was last seen. She planned to spend the afternoon there.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just feel bad. Like, I can\u2019t even imagine the emotions from the parents and family,\u201d Ms. Houle said. \u201cHe\u2019s a kid. Like, who doesn\u2019t want to look for a missing kid, right?\u201d<\/p>\n

Steven Phan, an AI specialist and former signal operator with the Canadian Armed Forces, has helped quarterback the citizen-led search effort, which he said has covered at least 11,000 kilometres. On Monday alone, more than 500 people came out to search, he said. <\/p>\n

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Search maps are taped to the side of a volunteer\u2019s vehicle at the Greenview community staging area on Tuesday.Amir Salehi\/The Globe and Mail<\/p>\n

His group hadn\u2019t received any tips about Parker as of Tuesday morning.<\/p>\n

\u201cUpon hearing about Parker being missing, I was just sick to my stomach and I couldn\u2019t sleep,\u201d Mr. Phan said as he taped a neighbourhood map that highlighted the new, expanded search area to the side of a car. <\/p>\n

\u201cI thought, if I\u2019m feeling this way, I just need to do something about it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Earlier in the morning, Scott and Cindy Yates were browsing a map pinned to a car as they deliberated over where they should search. The couple decided on Nose Hill Park, the 11-square-kilometre expanse in north Calgary.<\/p>\n

Scott, 66, said Parker\u2019s disappearance has concerned people in his life, including friends and family who live thousands of kilometres from Calgary. He shuddered to think about Parker\u2019s circumstances.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think this is touching people,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cLike, where did this young lad go?\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: A T-shirt bearing a missing-person poster for Parker is worn by Steve Phan,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":817896,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194293],"tags":[901,888,902,879,877,903,49,2798,48,876,895,896,891,878,875,46,549,295,894,887,914,880,881,893,889,890,884,904,885,909,910,912,907,911,905,908,882,898,899,714,897,906,865,61,900,892,886,883,913],"class_list":["post-817895","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-calgary","tag-alberta","tag-arts-news","tag-bc","tag-breaking-news","tag-breaking-news-video","tag-british-columbia","tag-ca","tag-calgary","tag-canada","tag-canada-news","tag-canada-sports","tag-canada-sports-news","tag-canada-trafficcanada-weather","tag-canadian-breaking-news","tag-canadian-news","tag-economy","tag-education","tag-environment","tag-federal-government","tag-foreign-news","tag-globe-and-mail","tag-globe-and-mail-breaking-news","tag-globe-and-mail-canada-news","tag-government","tag-life-news","tag-lifestyle","tag-local-news","tag-manitoba","tag-national-news","tag-new-brunswick","tag-newfoundland-and-labrador","tag-northwest-territories","tag-nova-scotia","tag-nunavut","tag-ontario","tag-pei","tag-photos","tag-political-news","tag-political-opinion","tag-politics","tag-politics-news","tag-quebec","tag-sports-news","tag-technology","tag-travel","tag-trudeau","tag-us-news","tag-world-news","tag-yukon"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/817895","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=817895"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/817895\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/817896"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=817895"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=817895"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=817895"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}