Police in Calgary have issued an Amber Alert for a five-year-old child and his grandparents after the trio was reported missing Monday morning.

Officers were called to an address in southwest Calgary after the mother of five-year-old Nathan O’Brien went there to collect her son and found that he, along with his grandparents, were not there.

Police say the mother had dropped her son off at her parents’ home Sunday night for a sleepover.

Calgary police spokesman Kevin Brookwell told reporters Monday that the grandparents, 66-year-old Alvin Cecil Liknes and 53-year-old Kathryn Faye Liknes, are not suspects. He said the investigation is being treated as a “suspicious disappearance of all three.”

Brookwell said after a visit to the residence and after speaking with family members, police found that “the home was not in the condition that typically it would have been left in, and there is some indication in the home that the occupants did not leave on their own volition.”

There are no custody issues with the family, Brookwell said, and police have no history with the family. The family’s vehicles, including that of the grandparents’, are accounted for.

“We have no information to go on at this time, and that’s the reason we’re reaching out to the public,” Brookwell said. “If they heard or saw anything during the night that was suspicious, to let us know as soon as possible.”

He added that police are “remaining optimistic” that all three will be found safe.

An Amber Alert was initially ruled out, because police did not have a description of a suspected abductor or a vehicle description, but Brookwell said police decided to put out the alert regardless of the missing criteria.

Investigators are looking for:

  • Nathan O’Brien, 5, who is described as Caucasian, approximately 3-feet tall with blond, curly hair and blue eyes. He was last seen wearing peach-coloured shorts and a striped blue hoodie.
  • Alvin Cecil Liknes, 66, who is described as Caucasian, 6-feet-tall, 200 pounds, with a slim build and grey/blond hair.
  • Kathryn Faye Liknes, 53, who is descrbed as Caucasian, 5-foot-3, 120 pounds with red/brown hair and green eyes.

Police are asking anyone with information about this case to call 403-266-1234 or Crime Stoppers anonymously by calling 1-800-222-8477, visiting calgarycrimestoppers.org, or texting tttTIPS to 274637.