Vancouver police release new photos, info about Randall Hopley as search continues
Posted November 8, 2023 4:56 pm.
Last Updated November 9, 2023 8:31 am.
Vancouver police have released new information and photos of convicted sex offender Randall Hopley, who’s been missing since Saturday.
The Vancouver Police Department (VPD) says Hopley boarded a bus at 3:10 p.m. near Main and Cordova streets after leaving the halfway house he was living in as part of a 10-year long-term supervision order. The VPD says he then got off the bus at 3:26 p.m. near Main and Broadway, before he reportedly removed his electronic monitoring bracelet at 4:08 p.m. in the area of Main and East 8th Avenue.
Photos released by the VPD Wednesday show the clothes and shoes Hopley was wearing, as well as the cart he was pulling, when he left his halfway house on Nov. 4.
“We believe Hopley is taking deliberate steps to avoid being found, and he may be hiding out in a rural or isolated area,” Const. Tania Visintin said.
Police say they are working around the clock to find Hopley, adding they’ve reviewed dozens of tips and reported sightings in Vancouver, North Vancouver, Richmond, Vancouver Island, and the Sunshine Coast.
In addition, the VPD says it’s notified shelters, libraries, community centres, schools, businesses, and transit operators in Vancouver, as well as searched wooded and isolated areas around the city.
A Canada-wide warrant has been issued for the man.
Hopley made national headlines in 2011 for abducting a three-year-old boy from his bed in Sparwood, B.C. This triggered an Amber Alert that lasted for four days. The boy was then returned to his home, just as mysteriously as he had disappeared. A massive manhunt for the child’s abductor ensued, and several days later, Mounties arrested Hopley near the B.C.-Alberta border.
Hopley is described as 5’9″ tall with dark, short hair and brown eyes. Police say he was last seen wearing a black baseball hat, black pants, and dark blue running shoes with white markings and soles. He has a dark birthmark or mole near the hairline on the left side of his head, and was wearing a black fanny pack when he left home.
Police are asking anyone who sees Hopley to call 911 and keep their distance. Anyone with information regarding his whereabouts is asked to call the VPD tip line at 604-717-0601.
