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Amber Alert: Where Is Taliyah Leigh Marsman?

By Chelsea Hoffman
Published on: 22:07 PST, Jul 12, 2016

An Amber Alert has been issued throughout Alberta (Canada) for a five-year-old child who has been missing since around 1:30 a.m., Tuesday. Global News reports that Taliyah Leigh Marsman was reported missing upon the discovery of her mother’s murdered body. This case is still developing, but authorities believe the child is in the possession of an unknown abductor.

The Calgary Herald reports that loved ones of Sara Bailie became worried when she did not show up for work on Monday, which led to a welfare check being performed at a suite where she was living temporarily with her five-year-old daughter. To the dismay of her family members, the door to the suite was found opened, and the murdered body of the young woman was found inside of it. Five-year-old Taliyah Leigh Marsman was nowhere to be found.

Even though the body of Sara Bailie was found early Monday evening, an Amber Alert wasn’t issued for five-year-old Taliyah until early Tuesday morning. It is now Wednesday morning, and there have been no reports indicative of any positive updates in the search for her.

Authorities are working diligently to investigate the circumstances behind the murder of Sara Bailie and the apparent kidnapping of her five-year-old daughter. They have confirmed publicly that the estranged father of the missing child is being “cooperative” with their investigative efforts. Meanwhile, media sources have revealed that 36-year-old Colin Evan Marsman has a limited criminal history, which includes accusations of unlawful confinement as recently as 2015. However, the charges have since been withdrawn. Sara Bailie was the complainant in the 2015 case against the man.

Authorities aren’t ruling anything out yet in this case and have publicly acknowledged that they don’t believe this was a random crime. In other words, it’s likely that someone who knew the woman and her missing five-year-old daughter is responsible for what happened.

This case shares shocking similarities with another recent kidnapping case out of Canada. Last year, and also in Alberta, a two-year-old girl was kidnapped from her home after her 27-year-old father was murdered. The discovery of the man’s body sparked a massive search, along with an Amber Alert in hopes of finding two-year-old Hailey Dunbar. Unfortunately, Hailey was allegedly murdered by the suspect, who was later arrested. The suspect was someone known by the family of the kidnapped and slain child.

As for the search for Taliyah Marsman, her case is attracting a ton of attention on social media — not just in Canada, but all the way down in to the United States. The frantic search for the five-year-old Amber Alert subject has included those who are sharing her information on Twitter and Facebook, using the hashtag #TaliyahMarsman.

What happened to Taliyah Leigh Marsman? Did someone who knew her family commit the horrifying murder of her mother before kidnapping the child? Or did a perfect stranger commit a violent crime out of sheer opportunity? Authorities in Calgary continue to investigate the circumstances of this case in hopes of finding out exactly what happened. In the meantime, locating the missing five-year-old girl is of the utmost importance, especially since she has been missing now for more than 24 hours.

[Photo via Calgary Police]

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