CANADA Canada - Nathan O'Brien, 5, Calgary, 30 June 2014 Media, Maps,Timeline, No Discussion

[Coldpizza]

Douglas Garland's sister pointed police to her brother as suspect, jurors in triple murder trial hear
WARNING: This story contains graphic details and an image that may be disturbing to some readers
By Meghan Grant, CBC News Posted: Jan 17, 2017

Garland's parents, Archie and Doreen Garland, as well as his sister, Patti Garland, testified in a Calgary courtroom Tuesday as Crown witnesses on Day 2 of the accused's first-degree murder trial.

"He had some business dealings with Alvin that had fallen through. As the years went on he seemed to get more bitter about it," said Patti Garland told the courtroom on Tuesday.

Patti, who was in a common-law relationship with Allen Liknes at the time of the trio's disappearance, said the last time she spoke with her brother, with whom she had an almost non-existent relationship, was Christmas in 2013.

"He had approached me and said he needed to tell me that he was going to call the police. He said he believed Alvin and Allen had stolen some property from the farm," she said.

[...]

Garland, 56, was upset with Alvin Liknes because of work they'd done together on an oil and gas pump, according to his father's testimony Tuesday.

"Alvin didn't pay Dougie some money and that didn't sit well," said Archie Garland, 86.

Crown prosecutor Shane Parker asked Archie Garland if he had ever used a chemical called DNA Erase in the burn barrel the family used to incinerate garbage and he said he had not.

 

[Coldpizza]

Douglas Garland murder trial hears from locksmith about drill marks on door lock
By Meghan Grant, CBC News Posted: Jan 19, 2017

The Crown presented evidence that Douglas Garland researched the same type of lock that was on the door of the home where grandparents Kathy and Alvin Liknes and their grandson Nathan had disappeared. (Court evidence/CBC)

Jurors in Douglas Garland's triple murder trial heard testimony Thursday about a tampered door lock and an internet router that was disabled sometime after 2:10 a.m. on June 30, 2014.

Less than 12 hours after Jennifer O'Brien left her son at her parents' Calgary home on the night of June 29, locking the door behind her, she returned to find the same door open, the house splattered with blood and her family missing.

Investigators soon found small drill holes in the door lock, which was later determined to have been tampered with, according to the testimony of a master locksmith.

Earlier in the trial, the prosecution told jurors they would hear evidence that Garland had been researching the exact same lock found to have been tampered with.

 

[Coldpizza]

Bloody footprints 'correspond' with shoes missing from Douglas Garland's home, triple-murder trial hears
By Meghan Grant, CBC News Posted: Jan 20, 2017

This image of footprints was entered into evidence at the triple-murder trial of Douglas Garland. (Court exhibit)

Bloody footprints found at the Calgary house where a boy and his grandparents were last seen matched the shape and size of a pair of shoes missing from Douglas Garland's home, jurors at his triple murder trial heard Friday.

Sgt. Lynn Gallen — a foot impression expert who has examined more than 4,000 crime scenes — was among the police officers sent to the home of Alvin and Kathy Liknes on June 30, 2014, after a 911 call about three missing persons.

[...]

The RCMP lab identified one of the bloody footprints found at the Liknes house as being made by a Dr. Scholl shoe, Gallen told the jury on Friday, the fifth day of Garland's trial in Calgary on three counts of first-degree murder.

When police searched the farm where Garland lived with his parents near Airdrie, north of Calgary, a week after the family had gone missing, they found three shoe boxes, including one for a Dr. Scholl's Delta 2 in size 13 wide, court heard.

Live Blog: Douglas Garland Murder Trial

 

[Coldpizza]

Douglas Garland triple-murder trial: cadaver dog indicated human remains at 3 spots on farm
January 23, 2017
By Nancy Hixt

An expert cadaver dog was the focus of the sixth day of testimony as Douglas Garland‘s triple-murder trial entered its second week.

Sully, a 10-year-old yellow Labrador Retriever, was taken to the Garland property on multiple occasions to pinpoint areas of interest to police officers. The dog used his sense of smell, considered to be 40 times that of humans.

His handlers testified his behaviours indicated human remains in three spots on the farm.

Sally sat to indicate one discovery on the southwest corner near the south fire pit.

“Immediately he showed an immense amount of interest around that pile in that corner,” Sully’s handler Const. Darcy Williams said.

When the dog went to the area near the burn barrel and wood chipper, Williams said he “sat facing the burn barrel, beside the barrel.”

The dog put his nose to the ground and walked back and forth “frantically” at the third location—between the green house and one of the outbuildings.

 

[Coldpizza]

Sully the 'rock star' cadaver dog at centre of Douglas Garland triple murder trial on Monday
By Meghan Grant, CBC News Posted: Jan 23, 2017

Sully is a cadaver dog, trained to sniff out human remains. He worked on the Garland farm on two different occasions, indicating to officers areas that required further investigation and analysis. (Calgary Police Service)

A "rock star" cadaver dog named Sully was the focus of Monday afternoon's testimony at the Douglas Garland triple murder trial, highlighting a speciality area of investigation unique to the Calgary Police Service in Western Canada.

Three officers from CPS' K-9 unit testified about their roles in the investigation involving the two different days Sully was dispatched to the Garland farm.

 

[Coldpizza]

Douglas Garland had book on how to dispose of dead bodies, triple-murder trial hears
By Meghan Grant, CBC News Posted: Jan 24, 2017

A photo collage show bruises on Douglas Garland's head and face (left), hand and knee, as photographed by Calgary police after his arrest. (Court exhibit)

On the same day triple-murder suspect Douglas Garland was arrested and photographed with injuries covering his body, officers were scouring the farm where he lived and seizing a number of items prosecutors would later introduce as evidence.

Jurors were shown photos of Garland's injuries taken by Const. David Blackwood on July 5, 2014, six days after the disappearance of Nathan O'Brien, 5, and his grandparents, Alvin Liknes, 66, and Kathy Liknes, 53, whose bodies have never been found.

[...]

Items found in the Garland basement:

Book - Be Your Own Undertaker: How to Dispose of a Dead Body
Book - Silent Death
Computer hard drive hidden in rafters
Whips
Straitjacket
36 tubes of dental anesthetic
VHS tape dated 2014/07/07 and titled 'News, unsolved homicides"
Tyvek suit almost identical to ones used by forensic examiners plus booties and facemasks
8 pairs of women's shoes, size 13
2 blonde women's wigs
Adult diaper + eBay receipt
About 1,400 exhibits were seized as part of Operation Amber from the Liknes home, the Garland farm and the green truck driven by the accused.

Calgary police said that is the largest number of exhibits collected for a court case.

 

[Coldpizza]

Justice tells Douglas Garland triple-murder jury ‘yesterday was difficult’
January 25, 2017 7:21 pm
By Nancy Hixt

Shoes seized from the Garland property presented in Douglas Garland’s murder trial on Jan. 25, 2017.Calgary Police Service forensic exhibit

The lead forensic investigator on the case, Const. Ian Oxton resumed his testimony Wednesday morning.

Oxton said the Garland garage, attached to the home, was filled with unknown chemicals. Investigators had to wear protective gear to enter.

Court heard a bottle of chloroform was seized and investigators collected 83 pairs of shoes from the garage.

“We were focusing on sizes 12 and 13,” he said, noting none of the shoes matched footprints from the crime scene at the Liknes’ home.

 

[Coldpizza]

Douglas Garland murder trial hears burnt circuit board found in ashes would have worked on victims' truck
By Meghan Grant, CBC News Posted: Jan 26, 2017

A burnt piece of a key fob found in a pile of ashes on the farm where triple-murder suspect Douglas Garland lived matches one that would have been used by the two grandparents he is accused of killing, court heard on Thursday.

RCMP forensic hardware engineer Kimberly Warren analyzed the burnt circuit board and determined it matches one used in the key fobs for five different models of Toyota vehicles, including the 2013 Tundra — the same type owned by Alvin and Kathy Liknes.

Oxton spent Tuesday and Wednesday testifying as a witness for the prosecution. He confirmed to Ross that no DNA from the missing family members was found on any of the contents of a black duffel bag — two sets of handcuffs, a large knife and a leather baton — or child-size handcuffs that were seized from the Garland farm.

It took the officer 10 months to sift through ashes gathered from the Garland property. On Wednesday, he outlined items he found, including an earring, a bracelet, buttons, a piece of a shackle and more than two kilograms of biological material, including bones and 17 fragments believed to be teeth.

 

[Coldpizza]

No DNA of accused triple-murderer Douglas Garland found in Liknes home: investigator
January 26, 2017 8:44 pm
By Nancy Hixt

Douglas Garland‘s triple-murder trial began Thursday with cross-examination of the key forensic investigator in the case, Const. Ian Oxton, and later involved testimony from a former neighbour of the farm.

Defence lawyer Kim Ross asked Oxton about results of testing of the Liknes’ home.

“No blood, no hair, no fingerprints…nothing?” Ross asked Oxton.

Oxton confirmed no DNA of Garland was found in the home.

Ross also went through a number of items seized from the farm, including various weapons and handcuffs, and asked about fingerprinting. Oxton said the items in question were not tested for fingerprints and confirmed it is not clear who owned or placed the items on the farm.

 

[Coldpizza]

Douglas Garland triple murder trial sees 'very graphic' evidence found on hard drive
By Meghan Grant, CBC News Posted: Jan 29, 2017

WARNING: This story contains graphic details that may be disturbing to some readers

The evidence presented in the Calgary court Monday came from a hard drive that was discovered hidden in joists in the basement of a farmhouse north of city where Garland lived with his parents. It was found five days after investigators began to search the property.

Const. Doug Kraan, an expert in digital forensic examinations, looked at 112 gigabytes of information stored on the hard drive. The last time the drive was accessed was the day after the boy and his grandparents disappeared.

A hard drive was found in the basement joists at the Garland home. Prosecutors say it contains 'meticulous' research about killing, torture and the Likneses. (Court exhibit )

Kraan also showed jurors a folder on "adult baby diapering" containing fetish-type photos of people in diapers — some in handcuffs and sexual positions. He was asked to scroll quickly and not linger on the images.

Included in Kraan's findings were an autopsy manual, 18 documents on "killing" or "murder," and a folder called "gore" with 87 photos of dead and dismembered people.

[...]

Before Kraan began presenting the graphic evidence, Court of Queen's Bench Justice David Gates warned jurors not to use the evidence to conclude Garland is a "bad character" and therefor infer guilt. Instead, he said they could consider it in the context of three issues: identity, murderous intent, and planning and deliberation.

The hard drive shows no research on Nathan, but the Crown's theory is that he "tragically happened to be at the home that night," and Garland "incorporated him into his already meticulous research plan."

 

[Coldpizza]

'Most painful torture': Douglas Garland triple murder trial hears of internet search
By Meghan Grant, CBC News Posted: Jan 31, 2017

The Crown's theory is evidence of files, photos and search history found on a hidden hard drive in the Garland home tells a story of an obsession with torture, killing, kink and murder victims Alvin and Kathy Likness.

Const. Doug Kraan was responsible for poring over 112 gigabytes of information on the drive. In earlier testimony, jurors heard about files on the drive that included research on dismembered bodies, autopsy tools and sexual photos of adults in diapers.

On Monday, Kraan said the main user of computer "would have been Douglas Garland," because of emails found on the hard drive.

But under cross-examination, Kraan confirmed to defence lawyer Kim Ross it is his "opinion" as an expert that Garland is the one who used the computer and could not state it as fact.

 

[Coldpizza]

Douglas Garland triple murder trial hears victims 'may still have been alive' after violence at home
By Meghan Grant, CBC News Posted: Feb 01, 2017

Based on the amount of blood found in the home where a five-year-old boy and his grandparents were last seen, all three could have survived their injuries, according to the testimony of Calgary's chief medical examiner.

Dr. Elizabeth Brooks-Lim testified at Douglas Garland's triple murder trial on Wednesday. She was brought into the investigation on July 2, 2014 to examine the blood found at the home of Alvin and Kathy Liknes, whose grandson, Nathan O'Brien, 5, had been sleeping over when the three disappeared.

Brooks-Lim said there were "three areas of bloodletting" in the house — in two bedrooms and in an entryway. There were also bloody drag marks throughout.

[...]

In his cross-examination of the medical examiner, defence lawyer Kim Ross asked if it was more likely the missing family members died at the home, based on blood mixed with hair found in one of the bedrooms and drag marks which could suggest unconscious victims.

Brooks-Lim said it was possible, but she could not confirm the trio died at the Liknes home.

 

[Coldpizza]

Douglas Garland triple-murder trial hears dentist believes tooth found in ashes
By Meghan Grant, CBC News Posted: Feb 02, 2017

The forensic dentist, Dr. Bill Blair, testified Thursday he was asked by police to examine the dental evidence collected during the investigation.

The evidence included two teeth discovered in the Liknes home, the small tooth, and fragments of teeth found in the ashes from the farm north of Calgary where Garland lived with his elderly parents.

Using an X-ray, Blair determined there were four possible samples of teeth from the packets of incinerated material he'd received, including the one believed to be a baby tooth.

The bodies of the boy and his grandparents have never been found. It is the Crown's theory that they were killed on the farm and burned.

Video analyst Kathy McCaw drew attention to something white in the back of the green truck near the victims' home. The Crown says the green truck is Garland's. (Court exhibit)

On June 30, CCTV footage from various locations captured three sightings of the truck — at around 3:30 a.m., 5 a.m. and 7:30 a.m.

Images taken around 5 a.m. near the victims' home show something in the bed of the pickup truck, but by 7:30 a.m., the box was empty.

 

[Coldpizza]

Douglas Garland triple-murder trial jurors see images Crown says are bodies on suspect's farm
By Meghan Grant, CBC News Posted: Feb 06, 2017

There were tears in the courtroom and an abruptly requested break for jurors today as aerial photos were displayed showing what the prosecution says are three bodies laid out on the property where a triple murder suspect lived. The photos also show smoke from a burn barrel and the shadow of person standing nearby.

The photos were "created and found through, for lack of a better term, dumb luck," prosecutor Vicki Faulkner told jurors at the start of the trial, now entering its fourth week in the Court of Queen's Bench.

Douglas Garland triple-murder trial sees graphic pictures from aerial photographer
By Nancy Hixt

Family of the victims were moved to tears and some jurors were visibly disturbed as graphic images were shown Monday at the triple-murder trial of Douglas Garland.

[...]

Gagnon also captured an image near the greenhouse at the burn barrel. Court heard it appeared smoke was rising from the barrel. The photo also showed what appeared to be a shadow of a person standing near the barrel.

 

[Coldpizza]

Douglas Garland triple-murder trial hears victims' DNA found on hacksaw, rubber boots, accused's truck
By Meghan Grant, CBC News Posted: Feb 07, 2017

DNA from Nathan O'Brien, 5, and his grandfather, Alvin Liknes was found on the hacksaw seized from the Garland farm. All three victims' DNA, including Kathy Liknes, was on rubber boots taken from the property. (Court exhibits)

DNA from a five-year-old boy and his grandparents was found on a pickup truck, a hacksaw and rubber boots seized from the Calgary-area farm where a triple-murder suspect lived with his elderly parents, jurors heard Tuesday.

Details of the evidence came as RCMP DNA analysis expert Vivian Mohrbutter testified about the results of tests done at the Liknes' home and the Garland farm, near Airdrie, Alta., where the Crown alleges the victims were killed.

Mohrbutter said DNA matches were found on the following items seized from the farm:

A shoe Garland was wearing at the time of his arrest: Alvin Liknes.
A hacksaw: Nathan O'Brien and Alvin Liknes.
Biological material found in the grass: Kathy Liknes.
A fragment from ashes found in a burn barrel: Alvin Liknes.
Meathooks: Kathy Liknes.
A pair of rubber boots: Alvin and Kathy Liknes, and Nathan O'Brien.
The bed of a green pickup truck and its licence plate: Kathy Liknes.
A blood stain found on the wall of an outbuilding: Alvin and Kathy Liknes.

 

[Coldpizza]

Douglas Garland triple-murder trial hears of bloody handprint on closet door
By Meghan Grant, CBC News Posted: Feb 08, 2017

At knee-level on a closet door, a small bloody handprint was left behind in what appears to have been a violent struggle to get a five-year-old boy and his grandparents out of their home. DNA from the blood matched that of Nathan O'Brien, 5, and his grandmother Kathy Liknes.

[...]

The bloody handprint had swiped downward when it came into contact with the closet door, according to Sgt. Jody Arns, a blood pattern expert with the Calgary Police Service who testified on Wednesday.

​In several areas of the home, DNA from Nathan and Kathy was found mixed together. When Jennifer O'Brien left her son at her parents' home, the grandmother and grandson were sleeping in the same bed together.

Both Alvin and Kathy were dragged through parts of the house, Arns said.

Based on her analysis of the bloodstains, Arns said there were four areas of the home where Kathy was "positioned while actively bleeding" and three areas Alvin would have lost significant amounts of blood while stationary.

 

[Coldpizza]

Douglas Garland will not testify in own defence at triple murder trial
By Meghan Grant, CBC News Posted: Feb 09, 2017

Douglas Garland will not testify in his own defence at his triple-murder trial in Calgary, jurors heard Thursday after the Crown wrapped four weeks of testimony from dozens of witnesses with dramatic video of the accused being chased through a farm field at night.

[...]

Crown prosecutors Shane Parker and Vicki Faulkner have called about 60 witnesses, ending with Calgary police Const. Jamie Parhar.

Parhar was a rookie street-beat officer who volunteered to help with the investigation in July 2014 after the five-year-old boy and his grandparents disappeared.

Parhar told court Thursday that she found herself tracking Garland alone after getting separated from her partner, jogging through waist-high brush in a farmer's field in the pitch black.

[...]

The only radio Parhar and her partner had was tuned to an encrypted channel with surveillance officers and an officer in a HAWCS helicopter tracking Garland's movements.

Parhar and her partner tried to conduct the traffic stop but Garland drove the rental car into a farmer's field just north of where he lived, got out and took off running through the field, she told the jury.

Garland running, crawling, hiding

The police officers followed into the field and then got out of their Crown Victoria and began to follow Garland on foot.

Const. Lane Trim, a tactical officer in the HAWCS helicopter was using military quality night-vision technology to guide Parhar who had lost her partner and was, by then, following Garland by herself. She was told over the radio that Garland was running, crawling and "attempting to remain concealed."

Video at link^^^

 

[Sillybilly]

Calgary Herald compilation of articles on the trial

(9 pages of links)

 

[Coldpizza]

What the Garland murder trial jury didn't hear: His meth lab, identity theft and mental health issues
By Meghan Grant, CBC News Posted: Feb 15, 2017

As a young man, he had aspirations to be a doctor. He attended medical school in Alberta for one year before suffering a mental breakdown, according to a Tax Court of Canada document.

But there is more to the story of Garland's failed attempt at med school, according to two former classmates who attended the University of Alberta at the same time as he did in 1987. Garland was suspected of cheating in his first few months in the program. One of his professors set him up on a test and caught him in the act, say the former classmates.

After being voted class president just months earlier, he was kicked out of medical school.

Criminal allegations

Garland faced criminal charges in the late '80s and '90s, but they were either stayed or withdrawn. Among them were two counts of possession of a prohibited weapon in 1988 and 1999 and an assault charge in 1989.

In 1992, RCMP busted an elaborate methamphetamine lab on the Airdrie farm where Garland lived with his parents. The 33-year-old was charged with drug trafficking and possession of stolen property.

 

[Coldpizza]

Douglas Garland found guilty of murdering Calgary boy and grandparents
By Meghan Grant, Drew Anderson, CBC News Posted: Feb 16, 2017

A Calgary jury has found Douglas Garland guilty of three counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of a five-year-old boy and his grandparents after deliberating for 8½ hours.

Family members of the victims cried when the verdicts were read out, but Garland showed no reaction.

Justice David Gates told jurors they could recommend consecutive life terms, which would mean Garland would not be allowed to apply for parole for 75 years. After a short deliberation, 10 of the 12 jurors agreed to make that recommendation.

If the judge agrees, it would mean Garland would be tied with Justin Bourque for getting the stiffest sentence in Canada since the death penalty was abolished. Bourque pleaded guilty to three counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of three Mounties and the attempted murder of two other RCMP officers in Moncton, N.B., in 2014.

Judge's sentence means 'cunning, cruel' murderer Douglas Garland will die in prison
By Meghan Grant, Carly Stagg, CBC News Posted: Feb 16, 2017

'These acts display a character of evil; you can't rehabilitate evil,' Crown prosecutor told court

Friends and family of a slain Calgary couple and their grandson broke into applause as Douglas Garland was sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole for 75 years.

Garland will die behind bars.

[...]

"It is difficult to conceive a more cunning, cruel and horrific set of circumstances of assault, abduction, torture and murder," the judge said to Garland.

"The horror and the terror you visited on these three innocent people extends almost beyond the boundaries of ordinary human comprehension. The circumstances defy description."

Gates described the murders as "brutal and senseless and planned."

He said there were no mitigating circumstances offered at the sentencing hearing and said Garland offered no remorse or regret.

The degree of moral blameworthiness in this case is "very, very high," the judge said.

Garland showed no visible emotion in the courtroom as the sentence was delivered.

'No words, no language': Douglas Garland victim impact statements
By David Bell, CBC News Posted: Feb 17, 2017

Nathan O'Brien's mother, Jennifer O'Brien

Two and a half years removed from the tragedy, I still fight the darkness that threatens to take me down. It seems the pain is never ending, something that I did not ask for, resulting in heartache that has not lessened since the murder. Our family has faced public pain and our privacy completely taken. I still hurt and ache. My feelings seem to change day by day. Some days I am angry, some days I just cry and other days I feel like a superhero knowing I am choosing to continue my life. The life I had before will forever be altered. The first one stopped the moment I walked in my parent's house. It is not possible to go back to my old life because it has been distorted and torn apart. I have had to seek out a new way of life, a completely new way of living.

Nathan O'Brien's father, Rod O'Brien

It is impossible to ever formulate any words in any language to describe the pain and loss of what Nathan had to endure or the devastation that is left behind by never, ever being able to see our son again. No words, no language, it is not humanly possible to describe the loss of Nathan.

Brotherly impact:

Nathan's brothers are his best friends and he was and is the bridge of our family. Nathan's older brother was who Nathan looked up to and wanted to be with and idolized. They were the very best of friends and always looked out for one another. They played together and were the kindest brothers had ever seen to one another. They played and played and played as brothers should.

Alvin Liknes' brother, Allen Liknes, Sr.

I want to thank everyone that was involved in the process of seeing this through the investigation and the court process. I thank God his family turned him in.

Alvin and Kathy Liknes' son, Jeff Liknes

There is not a day I wake up and do not think about what was taken from me. I still often get dreams about them and feel the happiness I did when they were around. Then reality steps in and I feel the weight of the world that I will never get used to drop on me. I will feel that every day for the rest of my life for no reason at all.

Alvin Liknes' daughter, Nancy Liknes

Just after his fifth birthday, my son and I were in our kitchen having lunch when, out of the blue, he asked me about his cousin Nathan. "Mom," he wondered aloud, "How can a kid who is only five years old die?" Startled, I took a breath and in the pause that followed, he became more specific.

"What happened to Nathan? How did he die?"

I didn't want to terrify him with the truth about vicious acts of utterly, dehumanized cowardice and cruelty. Acts perpetrated over nothing, although of course there could never be any reason to do such things.

Full impact statements at link^^^