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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
The sheet-white, carrot-nosed face of Olaf, the snowman from Disney’s Frozen, poked out from Dayle Demyon’s 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.
A large map of their neighbourhood was splayed across a table. Papers that said ‘MISSING,’ with photos of Parker, an 11-year-old boy wearing large over-ear headphones, were stacked atop one another.
Ms. Demyon said she pulled Olaf from storage when she heard Parker, who went missing last Thursday, was a fan of Disney. She’s holding out hope that, if she finds the boy, Olaf’s presence will make him more comfortable.
“I just figured it won’t hurt to put it sticking out of my backpack,” 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.
Search for missing Calgary boy hampered by misinformation spreading online
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.
Parker was last seen at 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.
Calgary police don’t suspect foul play is involved.
In an unsigned statement disseminated last weekend by Calgary police, his family wrote: “Parker experiences the world in his own way.”
He was last seen shirtless, wearing grey shorts and black noise-cancelling headphones over his head.
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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
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 – anywhere a child may look to hide.
“Since he went missing, our family has been living every parent’s worst nightmare. Every hour that passes without knowing where he is or whether he is safe has been incredibly devastating for us,” his family wrote.
On Monday, Calgary police Acting Staff Sergeant Scott Guterson described Parker’s disappearance as “atypical.”
“What makes this one unique is that complete lack of foul play,” he said.
Calgary police did not hold a media availability on Tuesday, and in a news release said they aren’t giving up the search for Parker.
Police play Disney music from cruisers as volunteers join search for missing Calgary boy
Calgary’s 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’s “Let it Go” in their bid to get Parker’s attention.
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.
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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
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’t travel far from the busy intersection he was last seen. She planned to spend the afternoon there.
“I just feel bad. Like, I can’t even imagine the emotions from the parents and family,” Ms. Houle said. “He’s a kid. Like, who doesn’t want to look for a missing kid, right?”
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.
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Search maps are taped to the side of a volunteer’s vehicle at the Greenview community staging area on Tuesday.Amir Salehi/The Globe and Mail
His group hadn’t received any tips about Parker as of Tuesday morning.
“Upon hearing about Parker being missing, I was just sick to my stomach and I couldn’t sleep,” Mr. Phan said as he taped a neighbourhood map that highlighted the new, expanded search area to the side of a car.
“I thought, if I’m feeling this way, I just need to do something about it.”
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.
Scott, 66, said Parker’s disappearance has concerned people in his life, including friends and family who live thousands of kilometres from Calgary. He shuddered to think about Parker’s circumstances.
“I think this is touching people,” he said.
“Like, where did this young lad go?”