Amber Alert deactivated, child’s mother in custody: Vancouver Police

VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) – After a tense search, Vancouver Police say a four-year-old girl who was the subject of an Amber Alert that was issued on Thursday evening, has been found safe and sound in Surrey. RCMP located her and her mother over the noon hour today.

“We received some information about an address in Surrey and we did some follow-up on that address — we asked Surrey RCMP for some assistance and they located both Delilah [Felton] and her mother at that location,” explains VPD Sergeant Brian Montague who adds the child wasn’t harmed.

The alert was issued after the girl’s 46-year-old mother is accused of taking the child from her legal guardian’s home on King Edward Avenue in East Vancouver. Police say Angela Hanley has never had custody of the girl and lives a “high-risk lifestyle” which led to concerns of her ability to care for the child. Hanley is also of no fixed address.

Hanley is in custody while the investigation continues.

In terms of a motive, police aren’t able to share just yet why Felton was taken. “Our investigators do believe they know at least part of the reason why Delilah was taken, but they may not know the whole reason and we’ll be chatting with Angela and trying to determine that — what her motivation was, what her intentions were and why she did what she did. Hopefully she’s willing to talk with our investigators and we’ll find that out,” adds Montague.

Vancouver Police say this was the 19th Amber Alert activation since the program was launched in BC back in 2004. “We do see parental abductions from time to time [but] it’s not something that generally garners a response like this. Amber Alerts are generally not issued for parental abductions. This is a fairly rare case obviously because of the mother’s lifestyle and high-risk behaviours. We had some real concerns for the safety of this four-year-old. We had concerns that she was not being cared for and that she was in danger,” says Montague.