Here’s a long article in regards to the final conclusions of the amber alert.
Father ‘humbled’ by response to son’s abduction
The tearful father of Zachary Miller said he wasn’t surprised his son
managed to escape from a convicted pedophile charged in his abduction.
In a brief but emotional statement, Lyle Miller said Wednesday that his
son was doing “as well as can be expected” after
his ordeal.
“He’s a very strong little boy, and he will get better,” he said before
running back inside the RCMP detachment in Broadview, Sask., visibly
overwhelmed and unable to answer any more questions.
After an intense two-day manhunt, Zachary was discovered Tuesday running
from an abandoned farmhouse near Kipling, just south of his hometown of
Whitewood, Sask.
Prosecutors, meanwhile, weighed laying more charges against suspect Peter
Whitmore, who was arrested Tuesday after a 10-hour standoff with the RCMP.
The 35-year-old is in police custody as the investigation continues, and
is expected to appear in a Regina court on Thursday.
Fourteen year-old Jordan Bruyere, who had been missing from Winnipeg since
July 22, was also found safe at the farm.
Lyle Miller also expressed thanks to the RCMP the public and media in
“helping Zachary find his way home.”
“We have been very humbled by the love and support from our family and our
communities here in Saskatchewan and in Alberta and from across Canada. We
know that you have spent countless hours and efforts and resources in
helping us resolve this tragedy. Thank you,” he said.
Relief, anger
Whitewood Mayor Malcolm Green told CTV’s Canada AM that sadness turned to
relief in his community of less than 1,000 after hearing news that the
boys were safe.
“I don’t think there was a dry eye in the community or anywhere. It was
just a very emotional afternoon yesterday for our community,” he told CTV
Newsnet on Wednesday.
“You never know with these things, we were always hoping for the best.”
But the case has also sparked anger with some groups who complained that
the public doesn’t have enough information about sex offenders living in
their midst.
Green said he is planning to start a letter-writing campaign in the
community in an effort to persuade both levels of government to toughen
laws protecting children.
The mayor expressed anger that a convicted pedophile such as Whitmore
could walk the streets freely.
“This has to be changed. We have to have some kind of system, where people
like this can be tracked and communities can be informed so we can take
the necessary measures to protect the residents,” he said. “We just can’t
believe, after researching this guy’s background, that he could be loose.”
In Kipling, Mayor Pat Jackson said there needs to be a debate on how to
better protect children from people like Whitmore.
“I also suspect there’s going to be a lot of discussion over the next
while, both at SUMA (the urban municipalities association in
Saskatchewan)and at SARM (Saskatchewan Association of Rural
Municipalities), about approaching governments on both levels to take a
look at tightening things up a little bit,” she told Canada AM.
“I don’t want any of our children at risk.”
Jackson said people in the community will be cautious for a while, but
that eventually, “we have to get back to normal living.”
Justice Minister Vic Toews said he would like to see a broadening of the
dangerous offender designation — which allows judges to impose sentences
with no set end date.
‘I’m not a hero’
Meanwhile, the farmer who helped police locate Miller and led police to
Whitmore downplayed suggestions on Wednesday that he is a hero.
Farmer and Kipling-area resident Pat Beaujot was returning home for lunch
on Tuesday when he noticed tracks leading to an abandoned farmhouse about
a mile from his house.
“So I drove up to the farm yard and the grass is about three feet tall in
that farmyard — and I saw tracks in the grass. It was pretty obvious that
somebody had driven in there recently,” he told CTV.
When he followed the tracks around the house, he discovered a bucket of
chicken and bones in a garage — along with the van Whitmore was believed
to be using — which aroused his suspicions.
“So I opened the door a little bit and I saw the van that had been
described by the media, and I quickly jumped back in my truck and drove to
my house about a mile away and phoned the police from there.”
The RCMP arrived in about “15 minutes,” after which they began about 10
hours of negotiations with Whitmore, leading to his surrender late Tuesday
night.
“I think there were hundreds of people doing the same thing I was doing
yesterday,” said Beaujot, “looking in abandoned farm yards and what not –
and I think they were all heroes. I guess I just stumbled upon the right
place, I guess, at the right time.”
Whitmore is a repeat sex offender who is well-known in Ontario for a
string of high-profile sex assault convictions against children. After
serving his most recent sentence of three years, Whitmore initially
relocated to Chilliwack, B.C. in June 2005, and then to Morinville, Alta.
in June.
He failed to appear at a June 29 court date and then disappeared.
Mirrored from shane's rants!.
