Amber Alert deactivated, child’s mother is in custody: VPD

UPDATE: The Amber Alert was deactivated shortly after 12 p.m. on Friday November 25th, 2016.

VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) – An Amber Alert issued for a four-year-old girl yesterday in Vancouver is still in effect. Police are calling this a parental abduction and say the mother, 46-year-old Angela Hanley, doesn’t have custody of the child.

Yesterday afternoon, Vancouver Police say they were called about the abduction. “Concerns were raised about the safety of this four-year-old. It got to a point where our investigators from our Major Crime Unit got involved. At about 6 p.m. the Amber Alert protocols were initiated with the RCMP and at about 7 p.m. that Amber Alert was issued,” explains Sergeant Brian Montague.

Delilah Felton was taken from the home of her legal guardian in East Vancouver on King Edward Avenue. “Obviously police are very concerned. We’re making an appeal, not only to the public to help us find Delilah and her mother, but we’re appealing directly to those who know Angela Hanley — who may run into her, who may know where she is, to pick up the phone and call 911. We’re appealing directly to Angela to hopefully do the right thing. Bring Delilah back home, or at the very least, drop Delilah off at a safe location whether that’s a police station or a fire hall, even a coffee shop,” adds Montague.

Police don’t think the mother has the capabilities to care for the child, but they wouldn’t go into further detail about why, simply adding she lives a “high-risk lifestyle.” The pair are not believed to have left the Lower Mainland and they are likely travelling via transit because there is no car associated with them.

“We’ve got word out to everyone from taxi companies to local transit. We’re in contact with as many people as we can who know Angela so we’re hoping to get some leads that way. We’re hoping for some leads through the public.”

Hanley is of no fixed address but police say she is known to frequent Burnaby, New Westminster, Surrey and Coquitlam. “We’ve checked a number of addresses and locations in those cities and we are in contact with police there,” says Montague.

The little girl was last seen wearing a colourful rain jacket, mostly red with flowers on it, a black shirt with writing on the front, and black leggings with grey stripes. She is described as white, about 3’0″ tall, 40 pounds, with red hair and blue eyes.

Hanley is described as white, about 5’6″ tall, with red hair and blue eyes. She was last seen wearing a light brown corduroy jacket with fur lined hood, dark jeans and calf height rain boots.

The Amber Alert program has been in place for about a dozen years in BC and in that time it’s believed about 20 alerts have been issued.