{"id":830355,"date":"2026-07-28T01:17:13","date_gmt":"2026-07-28T01:17:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/830355\/"},"modified":"2026-07-28T01:17:13","modified_gmt":"2026-07-28T01:17:13","slug":"parker-wells-calgary-police-shift-to-evidence-based-search","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/830355\/","title":{"rendered":"Parker Wells: Calgary police shift to evidence-based search"},"content":{"rendered":"

Police share a new update on the search for 11-year-old Parker Wells, who has been missing for 12 days. Kathy Le reports. <\/p>\n

CALGARY \u2013 Police say the search for missing 11-year-old Parker Wells is entering a new phase, nearly two weeks after the Calgary boy disappeared, with investigators shifting away from large-scale ground searches and focusing instead on evidence and investigative leads, as concern for his safety grows.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe will continue to follow up on tips, re-examine evidence and pursue any new leads that emerge,\u201d Calgary Police chief Katie McLellan said. \u201cIf new information identifies an area requiring additional search activity, we are prepared and ready to respond.\u201d<\/p>\n

Parker, who is non-verbal and on the autism spectrum, was last seen in the northwest neighbourhood of Thorncliffe on July 16.<\/p>\n

\"\"Missing Calgary boy Parker Wells was not abducted, police say Parker Wells, 11, has been missing since July 16, 2026. Calgary police and volunteers have been actively looking for the boy, who has autism and functions at the level of a three-year-old, ever since. <\/p>\n

Kody Watmough was working in the neighbourhood with a construction crew and believes they may have been among the last people to see Parker before he disappeared.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe strolled by us, me and the guys were actually excavating the hole behind us,\u201d said Watmough. \u201cI thought it was just the neighbourhood kid.\u201d<\/p>\n

Once they learned he was missing, they immediately stopped working to search nearby.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe stopped all the work here and we started looking ourselves with the guys, scouring the bushes behind the parks,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Since Parker disappeared, hundreds of officers have searched more than 8,600 kilometres on foot \u2014 roughly the distance between Calgary and the Italian capital of Rome \u2014 while hundreds of volunteers have also scoured the city looking for the boy.<\/p>\n

\"\"As the search for missing 11-year-old Parker Wells enters its ninth day, volunteers are continuing to travel from communities across Alberta, determined to help bring the Calgary boy home. As the search for missing 11-year-old Parker Wells enters its ninth day, volunteers are continuing to travel from communities across Alberta, determined to help bring the Calgary boy home. <\/p>\n

Investigators described Parker\u2019s disappearance as \u201cdeeply unusual.\u201d<\/p>\n

Acting Staff Sgt. Scott Guterson said Calgary police receive roughly 5,000 missing person reports each year, including about 250 involving children under 12 and some with special needs. About 99 per cent of those cases end with the missing person being found safe.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is our sincerest hope that Parker is still alive,\u201d Guterson said. \u201cBut realistically, every day that goes by makes that hope less likely.\u201d<\/p>\n

Police said they are pursuing multiple investigative avenues and have not ruled out the possibility Parker\u2019s disappearance could be criminal in nature, while emphasizing there is no definitive evidence to indicate what happened. <\/p>\n

The investigation has also renewed debate over Alberta\u2019s emergency alert system, after an Amber alert was issued about two days after Parker was last seen. Because investigators did not believe Parker had been abducted, his case did not meet the legal criteria for an Amber Alert and required a provincial exemption before an emergency alert could be sent.<\/p>\n

\"\"Alberta Premier Danielle Smith provides an update in Calgary on Wednesday, Feb. 19, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS\/Jeff McIntosh Alberta Premier Danielle Smith provides an update in Calgary on Wednesday, Feb. 19, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS\/Jeff McIntosh <\/p>\n

On her Saturday call-in radio program, Your Province, Your Premier, Danielle Smith said the case has highlighted the need to examine whether police should have greater flexibility to issue alerts for vulnerable missing children.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s key to have local law enforcement have the latitude to make that call,\u201d Smith said, adding the province will examine potential changes this fall.<\/p>\n

The timing of the alert continues to draw criticism from some community members.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo me, that was like a slap to everybody. It was like, \u2018what?\u2019 Two days later somebody\u2019s been missing. Two days already and now you issue it,\u201d said Kody Watmough.<\/p>\n

Police continue to ask residents to search their own properties, including backyards, sheds, under decks and anywhere a child might seek shelter.<\/p>\n

With files from CTV Calgary\u2019s Stephen Hunt and Tommy Osborne<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Police share a new update on the search for 11-year-old Parker Wells, who has been missing for 12…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":830356,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194293],"tags":[712,49,2798,48],"class_list":["post-830355","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-calgary","tag-apple-news","tag-ca","tag-calgary","tag-canada"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/830355","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=830355"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/830355\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/830356"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=830355"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=830355"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=830355"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}