Calgary says 911 mistakes delayed search for missing autistic boy later found dead

The City of Calgary says 911 operators broke rules leading to a delay of almost an hour before the alert went out for missing 11-year-old Parker Wells.

The boy’s disappearance in July sparked a massive search by civilians and police that went on for two weeks until his body was found in a system of pipes under a city freeway.

The city’s head emergency management says when the initial call came in from a day home on the morning that Parker disappeared, the 911 operator did not flag it as an emergency because the day home did not want to officially list Parker as missing.

Iain Bushell says regardless of what the day home wanted, the 911 operator had enough information to alert police.

He says that minutes later, a 911 supervisor reviewed the call and didn’t take action, and it was only after the day home called back to officially report the boy missing that an alert to police went out.

Foul play is not suspected in the death.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 22, 2026.

By Dayne Patterson | Copyright 2026, The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.