Right Under Their Noses...

In my last post I described situations and incidences where criminals used psychology against us. Today I tell a story where psychology was used on both sides of the law.

On the evening of September 6, 2011, three-year-old Kienan Hebert’s parents put him down for the night, unaware in the morning he would be gone. Initially authorities believed that he may have wandered off in his sleep and began searching the woods nearby their British Columbia home.

His disappearance followed a failed abduction within the community the same night. After discovering the theory of him wandering proved false, investigators deemed it a kidnapping and began looking for suspects. The first and only suspect’s name was Randall Hopley, a 46-year-old known criminal (including a charge of sexual assault and attempted child molestation) in the same community. The search continued in the nearby woods and an Amber Alert was put out, as was a manhunt for Hopley, now considered a fugitive. After discovering the seriousness of their son’s situation, Kienan’s parents made a statement to the press, pleading for the return of their son:

Please, bring Kienan to a safe place right now, okay, like a gas station or a store parking lot where he's visibly seen and you can drop him off… We just want him safe. Kienan’s only 3 years old right now and as you know and we know Kienan can’t speak, so he can’t tell us who you are, right? This is your chance, right now, to get away. All we want is Kienan to come back with us and to be safe in our arms again.

Link to the press conference video/article:
http://www.ctv.ca/CTVNews/TopStories/20110909/amber-alert-bc-boy-110909/

The community-wide search continued and on September 11, Kienan was found on his living room recliner at 3:00 am with no injuries or suspected sexual abuse. It was at this point that criminal psychology came into play and speculation and questions began:

• “How could his audacious abductor get access to a sealed crime scene undetected?” (www.calgaryherald.com);
• “It’s higher risk to bring the child back than it was to take the child in the first place” (www.thestar.com); and
• Kienan’s return followed his parent’s requests very closely. Although denying them the return in a “neutral place,” like said gas station, he was returned to his home.

Immediately, Ernie Allen, a child abduction expert, claimed that Kienan’s reappearing “makes his case almost unique” and that he was “not aware of that happening before.” According to local abduction experts and psychologists, there were three reasons as to why Kienan would have been returned in that fashion. First, they believed that the Amber Alerts and constant media attention the case was receiving were intimidating, causing the abductor to return the boy out of fright. Second, Allen considered the possibility that the parents’ emotional plea may have had an effect on the abductor’s conscience. Finally, according to Stephen Porter, Director of the Centre for the Advancement of Psychological Science and Law at the University of British Columbia Okanagan, the abductor may have acted so boldly in order to show his power and control over the situation, as well as his “superiority over the police and parents”- a theory considered “darker” and “sadistic.” Porter told The Star that in order to take such a risk, the motivation behind it would have to be very powerful. Also, if he was simply going to escape, he would have left Kienan at one of the mentioned “neutral places.” Of course, as excited the community was that Kienan was home safe, the feeling slowly turned to nervousness and fright, knowing that the abductor was still a threat out wandering the streets. People also began to question whether or not the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) had knowingly and secretly facilitated the window of opportunity for the abductor to return the boy unharmed and unnoticed, with the intent on capturing him at a later time. This has been described as a good and bad thing: on one side, they purposely put the community at risk, but on the other hand they were guaranteeing the safe return of Kienan. It has been concluded that the RCMP most likely weighed the risks and decided that the return of Kienan unharmed and alive was more important.

As I write this, the original person of interest, Randall Hopley, has been arrested and charged with breaking and entering, abduction of a child, and kidnapping, and will be psychologically evaluated before his next court appearance on November 9, 2011.

So what do I think of it all? Do I believe that Hopley returned Kienan on his own accord, proving his power and confidence, or succumbing to his conscience, or were the RCMP playing a part as well? I believe there are possibilities with every option. I think each theory has good reasoning, but I do also think that The Calgary Herald made the best case, siding with “basic criminal psychology.” The author (unknown) stated that it was a matter of the abductor’s ego that would probably be the main driving force. If he were to leave Kienan in a remote area, the action would do nothing to boost his ego, while taking the huge risk of re-entering the Hebert home to return the child would give him that boost, and enhance his sense of pride. In my experience, humans love being reassured of themselves, love being confident, so this theory wouldn’t come as a surprise. Hopley has yet to say much to anyone, only a few words and nods to his lawyer, so we may never know his true intentions that morning. As this case continues in court, I will definitely follow it, eager to see the outcome, starting with the results of his psych evaluation. Will he even be fit to stand trial? With new information and theories arising every few days, it is assured to be an interesting trial, but one thing is for sure: September 11, 2011 wasn’t just a day of remembrance in the United States, it was also a day of rejoice for one small Canadian community.

References:

http://www2.canada.com/calgaryherald/news/theeditorialpage/story.html?id=68347d29-a1ae-4b9c-a92d-3a8671a13305

http://www.ctvbc.ctv.ca/servlet/an/local/CTVNews/20110910/bc_amber_alert_update_abduction_attempt_110910?hub=BritishColumbiaHome

http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/article/1052250--kienan-s-return-unusual-and-unprecedented-expert-says