Search continues for missing non-verbal 6-year-old in B.C.

A search operation is underway for a non-verbal six-year-old who went missing from her home near Burns Lake, B.C., Thursday night.

RCMP say Oaklynn Schweder was last seen outside her home at 6:00 p.m. PT on Sept. 19 wearing a red-and-blue plaid dress, dark blue leggings with white bows on them, and pink socks. In a Facebook post, her mother says she was not wearing any shoes.

The girl went missing from her home in the community of Southbank, a rural community just south of François Lake. It’s about 25 kilometres south of Burns Lake and 200 kilometres west of Prince George.

Family has advised that she is on the autism spectrum and largely non-verbal. 

“I just want my baby,” her mother says in the Facebook post. “Please continue praying.”

In a video, the mother said Oaklynn knows her name and will respond to it if called.

“Yell as loud as you can for my daughter,” she pleaded. She also advised searchers to listen for humming or other “random noises.”

The mother says numerous community members are also involved in helping find her child.

Public asked to stay with child if found

Anyone with information is asked to call police or Crime Stoppers.

In an email, RCMP Cpl. Alex Bérubé said if anyone finds the child, they are asked to call police and search teams and stay with her until help arrives.

RCMP say they have deployed “numerous resources” to the search, which includes ground teams searching in grids, as well as drone operators.

Because there is poor cell service in the region, satellite communication is being set up and a search-and-rescue team is establishing a command centre to co-ordinate community members joining the search, he said.

Bérubé said a dog services team had been deployed but was called off because the number of people out searching contaminated the area.

Child not believed to be abducted: police

In a statement posted to Facebook, Taylor Bachrach, MP for Skeena-Bulkley Valley, encouraged anyone joining the search to connect with local search-and-rescue teams.

“Help is appreciated, but needs to be done in an organized way to make it the most effective,” Bachrach wrote

He also said he’d received several inquires about why an Amber Alert had not been issued, and directed followers to the RCMP’s Amber Alert criteria page.

The page says Amber Alerts, which include text messages to members of the public, highway message boards, and radio and television announcements, are only used in situations where a child is believed to have been abducted and is in imminent danger.

Bérubé of the RCMP told CBC News “there is nothing indicating an abduction at this time,” and that instead police had issued a missing kids alert.