Volunteers turn out by the hundreds as search continues for missing Calgary boy

CALGARY – Josephine Ledina worked the night shift Wednesday, then turned around Thursday morning to begin her fifth day searching for an 11-year-old boy whose plight has galvanized Calgary.

While walking the city, she plays Disney movie songs on her cellphone.

“I’ve searched … from back alley to back alley with my music,” said Ledina, a seniors’ home worker.

“I just want to help the family and get involved in this one. Calgary is good for helping each other. I’m just hoping for a happy ending.”

Ledina is one of hundreds of searchers who have spent the past week scouring backyards, homes, garages, boats and recreational vehicles in the city’s north end for any sign of the boy named Parker. Police have not released his last name.

The search is complicated. Parker has autism and is non-verbal. Police have said he could become scared if approached by strangers.

His face stares back from posters on everything from street poles to websites, as police wade through hundreds of tips on his whereabouts.

Police have asked searchers not to approach Parker if they see him, but to keep him in sight. Searchers broadcast his favourite Disney songs from cars and leave out Goldfish crackers to try to lure him from hiding. 

They say he has the skills to survive on his own — drink from a tap or get food from a fridge — so he may be hiding in an empty home while its occupants are perhaps away on vacation.

Police are urging residents and real estate agents to check on empty homes.

A Facebook page organizing the public search says so far about 1,000 people have joined in.

Ledina said she doesn’t have children but has taken care of her niece and nephews, one of whom has a condition similar to Parker’s. 

“I know what’s in their minds and I’m just hoping what I’m thinking is the same as him … the path where he will go,” Ledina said outside the Thorncliffe community centre, the unofficial gathering point for search volunteers.

Posters with Parker’s face are plastered on a chain link fence outside the centre. An electronic sign reads, “Missing Child: Parker. Search your property daily … let’s bring Parker home.”

In a nearby business park, a dozen peace officers looked behind dumpsters, under piles of wood and in bushes.

Police also walked in a grid search along Nose Creek.

More than 400 police officers have aided in the search. But acting Staff Sgt. Scott Guterson said volunteers are also critical in the effort.

Asked Wednesday what he thinks would be the reason if Parker is found, he replied, “I think it will be a member of the public that has helped us find him.”

Shantelle Bryenton said she and her husband decided to join the search on their first day of vacation.

“I think that Parker has really touched the hearts of all Calgarians,” Bryenton said.

“And as a mom,” she said, choking back tears, “I couldn’t imagine if it was my own child.”

Bryenton said her 10-year-old son is worried about the missing boy and asked about him daily.

“The first thing (he asks) when he wakes up in the morning: ‘Have they found Parker?’”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 23, 2026.