Mounties urged cabin owners to check their properties and local businesses to view surveillance tapes for any sign of Kienan Hebert, as the search for the boy continues to ramp up in southeastern B.C.
The three-year-old was last seen by his parents when they put him to bed in their Sparwood home on Tuesday night.
Police believe the youngster is with 46-year-old convicted sex offender Randall Hopley.
After days of fruitless searching, authorities expanded an Amber Alert for another 24 hours late Thursday. Moskaluk said there have been no confirmed sightings of Kienan, the suspect, or the car he was last seen driving – a 1987 brown Toyota Camry.
Meanwhile, police asked cabin owners in the area to check their recreational properties for anything unusual.
"See if there's anything suspicious, any sign of break-ins, anything stolen," Moskaluk told reporters at a press conference.
RCMP executed a search warrant on Hopley's trailer on Friday, the first time since the disappearance that officers had entered the home of the sex offender.
Moskaluk said the home has been under surveillance since the disappearance, and called the search a "routine task" to make sure all the bases are covered in the case.
"The appropriate time to conduct the search was determined, and that was today. We have to look at the possibility of this individual turning himself in or coming back to the residence."
Moskaluk also asked business owners in the area to go over surveillance video to determine if Kienan or Hopley were spotted.
"We ask that you review them. If you see something, and you believe you have images of the suspect or the vehicle, please contact police," Moskaluk said.
Police seized surveillance tape from a Fas Gas station in Crowsnest Pass but RCMP have not confirmed that the man on the tape is Hopley.
A BC Ferry traveling from Tsawwassen to Vancouver Island was put on lockdown shortly after 2 p.m. after Delta police received information that a vehicle with a similar plate number to Hopley's was in the car deck.
The tip was later confirmed to be a false alarm.
Dawson Creek RCMP set up road blocks after a tip from a hitchhiker later in the afternoon, but police say that sighting has not been confirmed, either.
The developments comes as the hunt to find Hebert intensifies.
Mounties have not publically said why they believe Hopley is connected to the disappearance, but a police source told CTV News that surveillance video captured Hebert along with a person of interest in the case.
RCMP denied that claim again on Friday, saying that despite several tips, there have been no credible sightings.
The search expands
Hundreds of volunteers, including local search and rescue teams, have joined RCMP in scouring the heavily-wooded area near the boy's family home.
More than 200 people standing shoulder-to-shoulder beat through the bush on Friday.
A search official says a 600-metre radius around the Hebert home has now been checked at least five times. Crews are now expected to move out further to areas where it's less likely that the boy could have walked on his own.
Simon Piney, a search and rescue manager, said that the odds are if Kienan was on his own he would likely be within one kilometre of his family home.
"Small children moving on their own steam don't go very far. They often don't respond to strangers looking for them," Piney said.
Despite the theory the little boy may have been taken away in a vehicle, crews have remained close to the Hebert home. Piney said the decision is based on the theory the little boy left on his own.
"This is the boy's largest chance of survival," he said.
A violent past
Hopley, an Elk Valley resident, was just released from prison last week and has a lengthy criminal history, including a conviction for sexual assault.
He was charged with the abduction of a child and unlawful confinement in 2008, but those charges were later dropped.
Hopley drives a 1987 brown Toyota Camry with the B.C. licence plate 098RAL. Police warn the public not to approach the vehicle.
A mid-1990s brown Toyota Camry was discovered Thursday afternoon near 140 Mile House, but police have determined that it was a stolen vehicle unconnected to the Amber Alert.
Hundreds of people attended a candlelight vigil for Kienan late Thursday night.
After a moment of silence, town Coun. Margaret McKie asked local residents to turn on their porch light to "light the way for him to come home."
"That's just a symbol," she said. "It's a hard knock for our community to have a little three-year-old that's been away from home."
Anyone with information about the disappearance is asked to call 911 immediately.
