Deceased/Not Found Canada - Alvin, 66, & Kathy Liknes, 53, Nathan O'Brien, 5, Calgary, 30 June 2014 - #7

[Carol]

I was talking about DG and he is not a suspect anymore he is a murderer!!

Really? Was there a trial already? Seems strange that he's been convicted of murder before actually being charged for it.

 

[sheshecanada]

I'd like to know HOW he got from the Airdrie Motel to the rural property? If LE had previously seized his green truck, how did he get out there? Did someone drive him?

I suppose he could walk it is not ideal but the Garland property isn;t that far in relation to hotels in Airdrie (I live in Airdrie)

 

[sophiebelle]

In the words of Nancy Grace (ugh), "intent can be formed in the blink of an eye." I agree with that much. There's always time to change your mind. It should be three counts of 1st degree. IMO

 

[Tealgrove]

The reality is that LE have obtained enough evidence to support the charges.

Remember the cadaver dog at the Airdrie acreage? That dog sat and they marked where he sat. There obviously was not a body present but dogs will note scent and these dogs have been trained to indicate when they scent what they are supposed to scent. We don't know where else those dogs were taken. Perhaps in the house. Perhaps in sheds, perhaps perhaps. Maybe even in the green truck. We don't know and we won't know now until trial.

Remember Caylee Anthony? Cadaver dogs indicated scent in the trunk of the car. They knew Caylee was dead.

This is strictly MOO.

Unfortunately, based on the evidence that the police were seeing, I believe they knew early on that they weren't going to have a happy ending. The medical examiner at the house, cadaver dogs at the Airdrie acreage, scouring through dumps, RO at every court appearance. I never thought they were looking for weapons. I always believed they were searching for bodies and I believe that the family knew that as well. They were so devastated so early on. There were no family pleas for NO - the police handled it all. Thre were no volunteer searchers. I believe the police knew and had to keep all the volunteers out and only use LE to search because they knew what they were searching for.

The clues were there that this was going to be the outcome. JO's comment about NO being in Grandma's arms. RO's comment about NO's soul. I think they knew.

Folks, once the arrested party is charged and we hear his name, that's going to be the last bit of information we get relating to this heinous crime, until they find the bodies.

I hope I haven't overstepped anything here. My heart is broken for this family. I keep seeing NO's little face. Such a beautiful child.

It is terrible that this occurred but I have to wonder how someone could kill a child for just "being there". So deeply sad.

 

[tiredblondy]

I hate to be gruesome but maybe forensics on the burn pile that was near the wood chipper.

Oh I hate to go there but I had that thought too. Soooo sad.

 

[Krystine]

Garland is a proven CRIMINAL with numerous past charges.....unless you know something the rest of us don't ???? Why are you defending him ? He is not a good person he is a CRIMINAL

No one is defending him, she is defending the process. Minds greater than ours have defended the right to people being innocent until proven guilty, it is the basis of our legal system.

 

[Weebles]

I want the days when the major risks of letting your child stay overnight with the grandparents was they would eat too many chips, stay up too late and be spoiled. This is just heartbreaking.

 

[Jo in Calif]

He can be charged with kidnapping of all three.
They did not have to be removed from the house alive.
Any time someone is not allowed to leave on their own they can be considered kidnapped.

 

[otto]

Unless it can be proven that either the grandparents or his mother KNEW that there was danger of a madman showing up to kill them that night (and I don't think that was the case), then I don't believe that anyone was being irresponsible or showing any lack of judgement - even if the house was sparsely furnished, what does that matter? The weekend would have been filled with excitement for a young lad like Nathan - interaction with lots of people, which Nathan reportedly loved, and if there was no bed for him, then it was an opportunity to 'camp out' at Grandma & Grandpa's. Our grandkids would think that was fun!

I agree, but everything points to the grandparents having a reason for shutting down all business and home relationships at the end of June. This wasn't something that happened out of the blue, the business lease was paid to the end of June, so presumably notice was given. Bankruptcy was declared on June 25, and the office was cleared out on the weekend of the estate sale. The house was in Alvin's name and was sold on Dec 5, 2013, with it being leased ... I'm assuming for 6 months, since leases are typically for 6 months or a year. Complete house contents were sold on the last weekend of June. The grandparents gave conflicting information about where they were going. Everything about this gives the impression that this couple had a good reason to time everything as they did and that they intended to vanish for a period of about a year ... then they were to return to Evansburg, AB (middle of nowhere West of Edmonton). Did they really not have any idea that there was a problem with someone?

I look forward to seeing cell phone communication to learn whether there had been any communication between the suspect and the victims leading up to the murder.

 

[deugirtni]

I think it means that instead of being convicted as 'guilty' and having a set sentence of a certain duration, the 'insane' person can just rot in jail indefinitely, until a whole board of professionals deems that the person is no longer insane and is no longer a risk to himself or others, with no risk of reoffending. A person would have better luck just being found guilty and serving his/her time. (But even then, I believe that if a convict is deemed 'dangerous offender', it is the same thing, where he/she can be held 'forever', until an entire panel agrees that release is fair to both him/her AND the public. If a person is in his/her mid fifties, and found guilty of such a crime as this, I would think his/her free life is now over either way.

How does an insanity plea work in Canada? I'm concerned it will go this way based on his previous history of mental illness.

On a different note, I was one wondering if DG were really the guilty person. But looking back you gotta KISS. His parents weren't stepping in to help him. He had a criminal past. There was "bad blood". History of mental illness. Truck seen nearby that night.

 

[LoriMcA]

I can understand the anxiety and everyone being a bit frayed at the moment.....we are all surely..heartbroken.

If I'm feeling that...if we are all feeling that....it's 1000 times worse for the family right now....& will be for a long long time to come.

I cannot imagine in any way shape or form anything like this happening to my child...or my parents.....I'm going to call my kids....I wish I could hug them RIGHT NOW....

devastated.

 

[JWhite]

If you are moving to Edmonton from Calgary, which is approx 3 hours north, why would you be selling off the bulk of your possessions? I can see that if you were making a permanent move to another country, but not for such a short distance.

A person who has gone missing from their home may have been determined to be in medical distress because they left without taking life essential medications with them.

1. They were moving to Mexico, not Edmonton. Their final plans in later years were to go to Edmonton, but this was not immediate.
2. The excessive blood found inside the house is the comment behind "medical distress"... I'm sure we would have heard about meds by now.

 

[PrincessButtercup]

I hate to be gruesome but maybe forensics on the burn pile that was near the wood chipper.

If that was the case they wouldn't be looking for bodies

 

[Carol]

In the words of Nancy Grace (ugh), "intent can be formed in the blink of an eye." I agree with that much. There's always time to change your mind. It should be three counts of 1st degree. IMO

Perhaps, but consider the different charges relative to each other in this theory. A subject decides they want to go to someone's house and murder them during the night. He makes plans to do this. He knows the person has a wife and expects this could well mean he's going to be murdering them both. He arrives to kill both adults, and is shocked that an expected child is there. In such a situation, the plans for killing the adults may have spanned days, whereas for the child it was instant.

Consider also that the burden of proof in our justice system is on the accuser. It doesn't benefit LE or the justice system to "over" charge a defendent because it raises the burden of what they must prove, and raises the very real possibility that if they fail to meet that burden, you've given the accused the advantage.

 

[tiredblondy]

The reality is that LE have obtained enough evidence to support the charges.

Remember the cadaver dog at the Airdrie acreage? That dog sat and they marked where he sat. There obviously was not a body present but dogs will note scent and these dogs have been trained to indicate when they scent what they are supposed to scent. We don't know where else those dogs were taken. Perhaps in the house. Perhaps in sheds, perhaps perhaps. Maybe even in the green truck. We don't know and we won't know now until trial.

Remember Caylee Anthony? Cadaver dogs indicated scent in the trunk of the car. They knew Caylee was dead.

This is strictly MOO.

Unfortunately, based on the evidence that the police were seeing, I believe they knew early on that they weren't going to have a happy ending. The medical examiner at the house, cadaver dogs at the Airdrie acreage, scouring through dumps, RO at every court appearance. I never thought they were looking for weapons. I always believed they were searching for bodies and I believe that the family knew that as well. They were so devastated so early on. There were no family pleas for NO - the police handled it all. Thre were no volunteer searchers. I believe the police knew and had to keep all the volunteers out and only use LE to search because they knew what they were searching for.

The clues were there that this was going to be the outcome. JO's comment about NO being in Grandma's arms. RO's comment about NO's soul. I think they knew.

Folks, once the arrested party is charged and we hear his name, that's going to be the last bit of information we get relating to this heinous crime, until they find the bodies.

I hope I haven't overstepped anything here. My heart is broken for this family. I keep seeing NO's little face. Such a beautiful child.

It is terrible that this occurred but I have to wonder how someone could kill a child for just "being there". So deeply sad.

Great post and Welcome to Websleuths! :welcome:

 

[Canadagurl]

I've been reading all the threads, just haven't put in my 2 cents yet. Just a little confused about something...
We know that DG was re-arrested, but am I missing something?? I thought I saw that he checked out of the hotel this morning, but LE is saying suspect was arrested at 130am. Are we 100% sure that there wasn't someone else??
All along I was blown away when they released DG, and the bail was ridiculously low...I was hoping that they did this in hopes that maybe DG would screw up lead them to some evidence.
If in fact it was DG this morning near his farm being arrested, maybe he had something buried there and was going to see if LE had found it?
I am heartbroken about today's news

 

[peony27]

Let's remember that JO has lost her son, mother and step father, and questioning why NO was there isn't really helping anything.

 

[Carol]

I've been reading all the threads, just haven't put in my 2 cents yet. Just a little confused about something...
We know that DG was re-arrested, but am I missing something?? I thought I saw that he checked out of the hotel this morning, but LE is saying suspect was arrested at 130am.

There was a tweet to that effect.

 

[matou]

I suppose releasing DG was a good strategy after all. JMO

 

[zwiebel]

I hate to be gruesome but maybe forensics on the burn pile that was near the wood chipper.

No I think the alleged killer will have read up on Tim Bosma's case and will have avoided the same mistakes. I think a cave or well is more likely - somewhere not too far from his home, that he'd possible used for secret purposes in the past.

I did do some searching but the only likely places I found were about a 3 hr (one way) drive away, and that's too far. Maybe some locals could contribute here, or might know where we could find some relevant maps or info?