B.C. Amber Alert: Hard to stay hidden in rural areas, says geographic profiler

People trying to evade detection usually hide out in crowded cities than trying to hide in remote areas, and it’s just a matter of time before a mother on the run with her two children are found, says a criminologist with expertise in geographic profiling.

Police have said they believe the abduction of Aurora and Joshuah Bolton by their mother, Verity Bolton, was well-planned and that along with her boyfriend, Abraxas Glazov, and her father, Robert Bolton, 74, they are living in a trailer somewhere off the grid.

Aurora, 8, and Joshuah, 10, weren’t returned to their father, their custodial parent, in Surrey as planned on July 17. Two days later police issued an Amber Alert, which remains in effect.

Surrey RCMP Sgt. Tammy Lobb said it appears the three adults and two children “have moved off the grid with the children and are believed to be living in trailers somewhere in a rural area.”

“The public is going to play a major role in locating Aurora and Joshuah,” she said. “We need the public to be alive to the information and photos we have shared and to be our eyes and ears and continue to call us with any tips and possible sightings.”