2 arrests made in McCann disappearance

RCMP in Alberta say they have arrested a second man along with Travis Vader, whom they describe as a person of interest in the disappearance of Lyle and Marie McCann.

Vader, 38, is now in custody at the Edson, Alta., detachment on outstanding warrants, police said. Hewas tobe interviewedabout thedisappearance of the couple, who were travelling from Alberta to B.C. in a motorhome pulling an SUV.

The second man was arrested Monday morning with Vader at a home in Niton Junction, about 150 kilometres west of Edmonton. Police did not release his name or any pending charges. He was beingquestioned Monday afternoon, they said.

The McCanns Lyle, 78, and Marie Ann, 77 were last seen getting gas on July 3, shortly after they left their home insuburban Edmontonontheir way tothe Vancouver area.

The couple'smotorhome was found burned to a shell at a campground near Edson on July 5, but the missing-persons investigation didn't begin until July 10, when their daughter reported them missing after they didn'tmeet heras planned at the airport in Abbotsford, B.C.

Sixdays later their SUV, a Hyundai Tucson they had been towing behind the motorhome, was found west of Edmonton.

Vader and the other manwere arrested before dawn Monday in an operation involving constables from the RCMP's SWAT team. The men were taken into custody without incident, police said.

Vader, who is from Niton Junction,has a criminal history dating back to 1995, when he was convicted of stealing a vehicle.

He was wanted on the outstanding warrants before being named a person of interest in the McCann case.

RCMP Sgt. Tim Taniguchi said policewould scour thearea aroundwhere Vader was arrested.

The RCMPreceivedmore than 130 tips about Vader's whereabouts, along with another 170 tipsabout the McCanns and their vehicles, Taniguchi said.

"The investigators have some information that Mr. Vader has a knowledge of the whereabouts of the McCanns," he told CBC News.

A McCann family member declined to comment on the arrest, but Vader's mother said she's relieved her son has been taken into custody.

Jennifer Vader said she wanted her son to turn himself in.