Police say they have received tips of possible sightings of child sex offender and abductor Randall Hopley from across B.C., but that the 58-year-old remains at large five days after going missing from his Vancouver halfway house.
The Vancouver Police Department released new images of Hopley on Wednesday evening (Nov. 8) that capture what he was wearing as he left his halfway house on Nov. 4.
The department shared new details about Hopley’s movements as well.
VPD says it now knows Hopley boarded a bus near Main and Cordova streets in Vancouver at 3:10 p.m. that Saturday, before getting off at Main and Broadway streets 16 minutes later. At 4:08 p.m., he removed his electronic monitoring bracelet and left it near Main Street and East 8th Avenue.
From there, his location has become unknown.
VPD says it has received 40 tips about Hopley so far, though, and many of them have included possible sightings of the sex offender in Vancouver, North Vancouver, Richmond, Vancouver Island and the Sunshine Coast. The department says it has 18 full-time investigators working on the case, as well as dozens of patrol officers assisting.
So far, officers have searched the spots where Hopley was last seen, locations and businesses he was known to frequent and wooded and isolated areas in Vancouver. The department says he may be hiding out in a rural or isolated area to avoid being found.
The department has also notified shelters, libraries, community centres, schools, businesses and transit to keep an eye out for him. It has flagged Hopley on a national law-enforcement database and informed border services, airlines and BC Ferries of what he looks like.
Hopley has committed three sexual offences against children in the past. He is also known for having abducted a three-year-old boy from his Sparwood home in 2011, for which Hopley was sentenced to six years in prison. The toddler was returned home four days later, unharmed.
VPD says Hopley has also been convicted for assault and property crime offences.
When the 58-year-old was first released from prison into Vancouver in 2018, police issued a warning that he posed a risk to the safety of young boys.
Hopley is described as 5’9” tall and 176 pounds, with brown hair, brown eyes and a dark birthmark or mole near the left side of his hairline. He was last seen wearing a black baseball cap, black coat, black pants and dark blue running shoes with white markings and soles. When he left the halfway house, he had a black fanny pack and was pulling a cart.
“We’re working around the clock to find Hopley. We share the fear and anxiety the community feels over his disappearance, given his history of violent offences against children, and we thank everyone for their patience and support while we work to bring Hopley back into custody,” VPD Const. Tania Visintin said in a news release.
Anyone who sees Hopley or who has any information about his whereabouts is asked to call 911 immediately.
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