bbm - I must have missed that.
The family said who is no longer in Calgary? And how would they know, if they mean the three missing people?
Did the father really say this about his son? Again, must have missed that. So he thinks Nathan is dead?
I'm a bit confused now.
Partially in answer to your, partially to address the concen some posters have mentioned about Jennifer O'Brien's use of past tense in the interview, and because I couldn't remember exact quotes, I went back to the interview at the Calgary Police Station on Wednesday, July 2nd and made this transcription. I hope this will help lessen the confusion if you go to original source material.
JMO, but I think that when Jennifer was talking about Nathan doing activities that happened in the past, like helping at the sale, she used the past tense. When she is talking to Nathan through the reporters, she used the present tense. My heart is still breaking for these people.
I apologize for any inaccuracies.
Transcript
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calga...than-o-brien-5-and-his-grandparents-1.2694198
Please note this is a rough draft. It is not an official draft connected with any of the participants. Any errors are my own.
RO = Rod O'Brien JO = Jennifer O'Brien JL = Jeff Liknes CPD = Calgary Police Dept. PR= Public Relations
RO Nathan
your mom and dad, Luke and Maximus, and your whole family loves you to every star and back.
Nathan...you are our super-hero right now and we're gonna bring you home very soon.
Nathan, God is taking care of your soul and mom and dad need you to be brave right now.
To whoever has Nathan, please find it in your heart to drop off our little angel Nathan to which he can be reunited with his brothers and with his family.
To the public, our son and family could be anywhere right now. If you have any information, anything at all, please contact the police.
We are grateful for all the support from everyone we have received: online, our family and friends.
Nathan, we love you big. We will see you soon.
JO I'm Nathan's mother, Jennifer O'Brien, and I'm the daughter of Alvin and Kathy Liknes, This, I appreciate you guys being here because I need Nathan to hear our voices and really I am grateful to you guys to allow this to happen and I just --
Nathan, I need you to hear my voice right now, and I need you to know that mummy and daddy love you more than anything in this world.
And, we can't be with you right now, but the best people that can be with you other than us is your grandparents.
And, I know that, I know grandma's holding you so tightly right now, and taking care of you.
And they are doing everything in their power to keep you safe. I need you to know that.
Stay strong, Nathan. Stay strong. We know you are our super hero and I just need you to stay strong and we are gonna to see you.
We are gonna see you. And we love you so much.
Thank you.
RO Thank you.
JO Thank you for everybody's wishes and everybody's support throughout this investigation.
JL Hi. My name's Jeff, and I'm the son of Alvin and Kathy. I'm just have a few words. I'm the [brother] of Jenn as well. Nathan was my nephew.
My family and I would like to sincerely thank the Calgary police and all the many people who have offered their kindness and support during this difficult time. We ask that anyone who was at the sale on the weekend please go to community hall tomorrow or contact the police.
Mom, Dad, we want you to know that we love you so much and we're doing everything we can to get you home safely. Please continue to pray with us for the safe return of our parents, Alvin and Kathy Liknes, and our nephew, Nathan O'Brien. Thank you.
Off camera CPD PR voice. Can you answer a couple of questions about the family specifically?
JL Sure
Reporter: I have a question. My name is ...from the National News. Can you tell us about your parents and why they were planning move to the United States? We've heard something about that.
JL They were planning on moving to Edmonton for about three months and then from there they were gonna go to Mexico--Mazatlan--for I'm not exactly sure how long. I'm not even sure if they knew. But they were planning o (sorry, I'm actually, sorry) I'm not sure how long they were planning staying there for, but then they were planning on moving back to Edmonton, 'cause they bought a house there. Yeah.
Reporter: We've heard before something about a potential reward, something about that...
RO We're working with the Calgary police on that, to use that as part of the investigation right now. Thanks. We'll keep you posted.
Reporter: So a reward is not officially being offered. at this time?
JO Correct.
RO Correct.
JO It's something that we're looking into being part of the investigation.
Reporter: Can I ask another question? Do you feel Nathan is out there and
RO I think so because Nathan wasn't supposed to be there and so..
JO I know he is out there that's why--
RO He's out there.
JO We know he's out there.
Reporter May I ask what you're holding in your hand? ???
RO It's just a butterfly that my son had made.
Reporter Is Nathan old enough to know your address and telephone numbers?
RO I don't believe so.
Off camera mod voice Any other questions?
Reporter: How important do you guys think it is for Calgarians and maybe even Canadians to be a part of this?
RO I think it's -- JL--very--RO off camera voices extremely important
RO I think its beyond Calgary. Like Alberta has to stand up. It's, its could be BC, it could be Alberta that these aren't, it's just not in Calgary I think. They could be anywhere.
Off camera family. We just don't know.
Reporter Is there anybody who might have had a grudge against your parents?
RO I don't know.
Jeff I don't think so.
Off camera voice. I don't believe so, they were beautiful.
Reporter Do you know why they chose Mexico and why specifically Mazatlan? Do they own property down there? Were they planning to buy property there?
RO It was family property.
JO Yes
JL They were never planning --
RO Other family members live down there.
JO My dad's twin brother owned a place down there and lots of family members actually
RO vacation down
JO vacation there so..
Reporter So did they know a lot of people already down there
RO They do.
JO Yeh, yeh. So that was, that was a recent property that they they bought to spend their winters out there and be with family
Reporter Mrs. O'Brien, sorry
JO And bring us out for holidays.
Reporter Mrs. O'Brien you left the estate sale, did you feel as though there a lot of valuables left in the house that an intruder may want to target?
JO No comment.
CPD PR And so if we're getting to investigative questions, I'll bring Staff Seargeant Doug Irish up. In the meantime, we'll have the family move --
Reporter A couple more questions. Do you want to say a couple more things so that people will know more about Nathan?
JO Nathan was the most loving human being, and throughout that whole sale, and when I went there on Sunday with my son and he was there, and people would buy stuff. And my mom was being herself, being a saleslady, and she was just so friendly to everybody, and Nathan kept saying "Grandma. Grandma you have to make sure that you tell them thank you." And my grandma, my mom would say, "No, no. I know I did." And he would say "OK." And he would greet them. And, and I guarantee you that if Nathan's out there, he's talking to everybody. He is so friendly. He is so strong. He left, he went everywhere forever in costumes. I think that actually he thinks he is superman. And we didn't even buy him clothes, we bought him costumes 'cause he loved to dress up and that's why we refer to him as our super hero, because we know he's strong.
RO Nathan is the only person I, he's the glue in our family. He's the glue between the brothers and us. He was our firstborn with Jennifer and I. And he's the only person I've ever known that, as he gets older, he gets kinder and more open to all the kids, and of his friends in our bay. He's the glue in our neighbourhood, so...
JO Yeah. He's friendly, he's very smart, he's very religious.
RO He's very--
JO He loves God. He know God's watching out for him right now. And his grandma and him were best friends. So I take extreme comfort knowing that his grandma is with him and that his grandpa is with him because those two, it, it was like a second mother for him, she was a second mother for him.
RO Mmmhmm
Reporter What did you guys think on that day? Was the sale still on and was this the last time that you saw him?
CPD PR No comment.
JO No comment.
CPD PR We'll get into those in a second. crosstalk
Reporter Mrs. O'Brien crosstalk you were holding a blue fabric when you came in today. Can you tell me about that?
JO It's my son's, it's a
RO It's his shirt.
JO It's a shirt that I left him in and when I went there to get him that morning, I had brought him a change of clothes so, I just brought it with me. It's clean. We try to smell it and it smells clean,-
RO So it doesn't smell like Nathan.
JO and it's a part of, I guess we need something, and, that's, Nathan, we love you so much.
RO Daddy loves you big. Your brothers Luke
JO Mum
RO and Maximus love you.
JO Alvin, just stay strong. Keep everybody safe. I know you are. Love you all so much. (JO kisses RO)
JO Everybody, everybody's here for you guys. Everybody.
RO Anything else?
Reporter Can you tell me what you plan to do first when he comes back?
JO Oh, hug him. Hug him and
RO And never let him go.
JO Never let him go.
CPD PR Are there any last questions?
Reporter I have a question. How are his two brothers doing?
RO Well, his older brother's, he's doing, he's coping. He's in safe hands. And his younger brother, Maximus, he's turning two here in a couple of months, and he's a baby, so
JO Yeh, but he knows
RO He knows what's going on.
JO He knows what's going on.
JO He's comforting us. He's feeding me. He's the only one that will feed me. Everyone's trying but he's the only one that gets through, and he's actually extremely warm, and he doesn't want to get away from us. He wants to be close with us, so
RO So
Reporter Well I know it seems obvious, but how have you guys been coping? How have are you holding up through all of this?
JO Well, we have amazing support from our family.
RO And friends
JO Nobody's left our side. The amount of messages I've gotten. And the people coming out and the things they say. Like, I may not be responding, but I just want everybody to know that we're getting them and that's, that's such a huge support system, and it matters and it matters huge to us.
Voice off camera. We'll wrap it up.
Voices saying thank you.