Officers stop vans in search for missing Canadian girl

Authorities in Flathead County stopped several white vans Monday night and Tuesday morning searching for a vehicle believed to have fled the scene of an abduction-homicide in Alberta.

As of Tuesday afternoon, the search had been unsuccessful and a 2-year-old Canadian girl still was missing, though a suspect had been detained in the girl’s father’s murder. The suspect had not been charged.

Authorities also located a van in the girl’s hometown that matched the description of the van that fled the scene of the crime, but police could not say for sure that it was the same van. Authorities re-issued the Amber Alert and continued looking for the van Tuesday afternoon.

The girl, Hailey Dunbar-Blanchette, was reported missing after her father was found dead in his Blairmore, Alberta home.

Bairmore is 250 miles northeast of Kalispell. The man was found dead Monday afternoon, but the Royal Canadian Mounted Police believe the girl was likely abducted around 3:30 a.m. Monday in a newer-model white van, with a large rear antenna, with a flag attached.

Within hours of an Amber Alert being issued for Dunbar-Blanchette in Alberta, British Columbia and Montana, people in Flathead County had called dispatchers to help in the search.

On Monday evening, a woman in West Glacier advised dispatch and Glacier National Park workers that she had seen a suspicious white van. Authorities determined it was too old and did not have the distinguishing flag and antenna to be the suspect van.

Other white vans were pulled over by law enforcement officers Tuesday morning.

“We are out looking and we have gotten a couple of calls,” Kalispell Police Department Patrol Capt. Tim Falkner said. “We’re going to try to do our best if they come this way.”

Kalispell Police stopped an Econoline van Tuesday morning that had veteran symbols on the back and Jesus Christ symbols on the sides, after a caller reported it as suspicious because of the Amber Alert.

A woman in her mid-20s was in the van that had been converted into a camper. The man driving the van said he and the woman had been traveling the Alaskan Highway all summer and had traveled into Kalispell from Eureka.

Flathead County Sheriff Chuck Curry said his deputies also were monitoring the situation.

“We are certainly aware of it,” Curry said. “We have stopped a few vans and we will continue to do that.”

Dunbar-Blanchette is a described as a white child with small build, light brown and straight hair with bangs, and brown eyes. Her abductor is unknown. Anyone with information about the child’s whereabouts is asked to call 1-780-412-5260.

The girl’s father, Terry Blanchette, 27, worked as a cook at a bar in a nearby town and Monday was his day off, the bar’s manager Tammy Tracey said.

“He was a good worker and a good father. He did anything for his daughter, he loved her dearly. He was a good dad. He lived for her,” Tracey said.

Hailey’s mother, Cheyenne Dunbar, rushed from her home in Edmonton to be with relatives near her former boyfriend’s home.

“We just pray that whoever has her will keep her safe,” Corette Harrington, a family friend, said. “It’s heartbreaking to know that when she comes back, her dad’s not going to be there.”

Dunbar and Blanchette shared custody of the girl, Harrington said.

Tony Hamori, Royal Canadian Mounted Police assistant district commander for southern Alberta, said both the death and the disappearance of the little girl are very troubling.

“This type of incident combined with the scene at the residence that we found is concerning to the highest degree both to the RCMP” and local community, he told reporters.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.