Police say a boy who was the subject of an Amber Alert in Alberta over the summer has been found safe. The Amber Alert was issued on July 7 for a six-year-old boy who was believed to be with his biological mother, 35-year-old Krista Morrison, her partner, 35-year-old Daniel Ludwig, and a four-year-old boy who is the brother of the six-year-old boy. The boy was taken from Valhalla Centre, a hamlet near Grande Prairie after a custody order was issued. The Amber Alert was cancelled in Alberta on July 10 after the group was spotted in B.C. On July 17 police said they were still searching for the two children, who were still believed to be with the adults, but said the case was no longer an Amber Alert. On Friday, police announced both boys had been found safe on a rural property in West Kelowna, B.C., on Thursday. “These investigative efforts included extensive searches of several rural properties and ongoing coordination among RCMP specialized units in Alberta, British Columbia, Northwest Territories, and the Yukon,” Insp. Breanne Brown told reporters. Morrison and Ludwig were both arrested on warrants for contravening a custody order. “Their bail hearings will take place in British Columbia, and investigators will seek detention and return to Alberta to appear before the courts,” Brown said. Amber Alert criteria Police said there was some confusion about the Amber Alert and who it pertained to as the case played out because provinces set the rules for issuing an Amber Alert, and the criteria for issuing one varies by jurisdiction. “In the province of Alberta, the Amber Alert programme is a separate entity from the police. We have no say on what the criteria is that the Amber Alert is issued,” Staff Sgt. Derrick Gladdish told reporters. “The criteria was met for [the older boy] and then after a certain amount of time, the criteria was no longer met.” The younger boy was never part of an official Amber Alert. “The apprehension order for [the younger boy] comes from the Children’s and Family Services, not the family court order,” Gladdish said. “By the time we requested that [the younger boy] be added to the Amber Alert, it was no longer in place.” The two boys are currently in the custody of the ministry of children’s and family services in B.C. and police say they are in the process of being transferred to Children’s and Family Services in Alberta.
