Canada - Richard Oland, 69, brutally murdered, St John, NB, 7 July 2011

[MistyWaters]

There isn't much written about the 'mistress', but wow, it's maddening to think LE didn't seem to consider her a possibility enough to seriously look at. I was shocked to hear that although she'd had a lie detector, police had actually 'lost' the data, so the specialist couldn't get access to it. (That was in the miniseries.) From what he *was* able to view, she had had a reaction worth following up on, when asked if she'd murdered RO. Then I think about how we he hadn't been responding to her texts for most of the day... and how he'd just returned from a fishing trip (presumably NOT with her), and how as soon as he got back, she was on him, on him, on him, to make plans to go away.. and then the little snippets we were able to read from an email that she had sent to RO a few months earlier. I had only been basing my impression of her as a 'fatal attraction' star on so little, but to find out a little bit more makes me wonder even more why she was never checked out fully. Her alibi was that she had been home with her husband. Did they even verify that with him? According to MSM, her husband did not learn of the 8-year affair until some 15 months after RO's murder, so was he even questioned about his wife's whereabouts (or his own whereabouts) in the days following the murder? I'm thinking *not*, since if he had, he would've wondered how he and his wife would've been a concern to be questioned in the case and it wouldn't have taken 15 months to find out about the affair!

I think it is just so unfair that other things weren't checked out. Where would the cell tower have pinged if the mistress had the phone on her way to her home after potentially killing him? Where did both her and her husband's cellphones tell police where they were at the time of the killing?

"Jiri Sedlacek, 87, testified he first learned of the affair about 15 months later, when his lawyer shared a media report about it with him."
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/oland-trial-mistress-sedlacek-1.3312019

From your link, this is another head scratcher - She says her husband found out about the affair when he was questioned by police. She chose not to tell him, knowing the information would become public? And he says he learned of the affair 15 months later through his lawyer/media article. Both statements cannot be true.

I also note how the word “affair” tends to diminish the fact the relationship between the two began 8 years prior. That’s as long as the average marriage (8.2 years)!

If it indeed took 15 months (or more) for LE to interview this husband who’s wife is having a long-term fling with the murder victim, that’s just ridiculous. He should’ve been amongst the top five on LE’s priority interview list, regardless of his age. JMO

“ Sedlacek, who has since moved out of province, said her husband only became aware of her affair when police questioned him following Oland's death.

Jiri Sedlacek, 87, testified he first learned of the affair about 15 months later, when his lawyer shared a media report about it with him.”

 

[casesensitive]

Everybody agreed (prosecution and defense) that this was a crime of passion. LE had tunnel vision from day one. Even though LE's tunnel vision was acknowledged by the preliminary judge, he sent it to trial. This homicide investigation was a quintessential case of tunnel vision, and that unfortunately resulted in it being flawed, biased, incomplete and incompetent. LE never seriously looked at any one else.

One particular example of their tunnel vision was exemplified (imo) when Police Chief Reid refused the Oland family's offer of providing a reward. He said it wasn't necessary because Dennis did it.

 

[deugirtni]

Everybody agreed (prosecution and defense) that this was a crime of passion. LE had tunnel vision from day one. Even though LE's tunnel vision was acknowledged by the preliminary judge, he sent it to trial. This homicide investigation was a quintessential case of tunnel vision, and that unfortunately resulted in it being flawed, biased, incomplete and incompetent. LE never seriously looked at any one else.

One particular example of their tunnel vision was exemplified (imo) when Police Chief Reid refused the Oland family's offer of providing a reward. He said it wasn't necessary because Dennis did it.

I don't remember knowing about the reward offer, nor the preliminary hearing judge saying police had tunnel vision? Wow. Where did you see this stuff? Has anyone read any of the books written about the murder and the first trial?

 

[TrishLiv]

There isn't much written about the 'mistress', but wow, it's maddening to think LE didn't seem to consider her a possibility enough to seriously look at. I was shocked to hear that although she'd had a lie detector, police had actually 'lost' the data, so the specialist couldn't get access to it. (That was in the miniseries.) From what he *was* able to view, she had had a reaction worth following up on, when asked if she'd murdered RO. Then I think about how we he hadn't been responding to her texts for most of the day... and how he'd just returned from a fishing trip (presumably NOT with her), and how as soon as he got back, she was on him, on him, on him, to make plans to go away.. and then the little snippets we were able to read from an email that she had sent to RO a few months earlier. I had only been basing my impression of her as a 'fatal attraction' star on so little, but to find out a little bit more makes me wonder even more why she was never checked out fully. Her alibi was that she had been home with her husband. Did they even verify that with him? According to MSM, her husband did not learn of the 8-year affair until some 15 months after RO's murder, so was he even questioned about his wife's whereabouts (or his own whereabouts) in the days following the murder? I'm thinking *not*, since if he had, he would've wondered how he and his wife would've been a concern to be questioned in the case and it wouldn't have taken 15 months to find out about the affair!

I think it is just so unfair that other things weren't checked out. Where would the cell tower have pinged if the mistress had the phone on her way to her home after potentially killing him? Where did both her and her husband's cellphones tell police where they were at the time of the killing?

"Jiri Sedlacek, 87, testified he first learned of the affair about 15 months later, when his lawyer shared a media report about it with him."
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/oland-trial-mistress-sedlacek-1.3312019

Lets play through the idea that DS murdered Richard and then called his cellphone herself, as a way to throw everyone off, while driving back to Darlings Island. This is a reasonable point that could have been made in court.

My first thought is-Can you make a call on that highway while driving to Darlings Island and have it bounce off that cell tower. The answer is yes. However, in order for her to make that call she would have had to have been working with Dennis, because of how tight this timeline is.

Based on this theory, Diane would have had to have been at RO's office at the exact same moment DO was there. Because we know that Dennis left the office at around 6:36pm by his own admission and we also know the text pinged off the Rothesay tower at 6:44pm.

Could Diane have committed a murder, cleaned up, and been on that highway to send the text in the span of 8 mins?

Dennis is saying- when he left, RO's cell phone was still there, in SJ.
He drove to the Wharf, and it somehow pinged there with the text, less then 10 mins later
Meaning to me that either Dennis or his hired hitman, had Richards phone while it received the text at 6:44pm.


How could Diane have had the opportunity to commit the crime? With the known timeframe. Can anyone come up with a scenario that makes sense involving the girlfriend?

 

[TrishLiv]

Everybody agreed (prosecution and defense) that this was a crime of passion. LE had tunnel vision from day one. Even though LE's tunnel vision was acknowledged by the preliminary judge, he sent it to trial. This homicide investigation was a quintessential case of tunnel vision, and that unfortunately resulted in it being flawed, biased, incomplete and incompetent. LE never seriously looked at any one else.

One particular example of their tunnel vision was exemplified (imo) when Police Chief Reid refused the Oland family's offer of providing a reward. He said it wasn't necessary because Dennis did it.

I always have respect for what others feel however, I'm not one to be agreeable. Staged in my unprofessional opinion. Haha!

 

[deugirtni]

Lets play through the idea that DS murdered Richard and then called his cellphone herself, as a way to throw everyone off, while driving back to Darlings Island. This is a reasonable point that could have been made in court.

My first thought is-Can you make a call on that highway while driving to Darlings Island and have it bounce off that cell tower. The answer is yes. However, in order for her to make that call she would have had to have been working with Dennis, because of how tight this timeline is.

Based on this theory, Diane would have had to have been at RO's office at the exact same moment DO was there. Because we know that Dennis left the office at around 6:36pm by his own admission and we also know the text pinged off the Rothesay tower at 6:44pm.

Could Diane have committed a murder, cleaned up, and been on that highway to send the text in the span of 8 mins?

Dennis is saying- when he left, RO's cell phone was still there, in SJ.
He drove to the Wharf, and it somehow pinged there with the text, less then 10 mins later
Meaning to me that either Dennis or his hired hitman, had Richards phone while it received the text at 6:44pm.


How could Diane have had the opportunity to commit the crime? With the known timeframe. Can anyone come up with a scenario that makes sense involving the girlfriend?

Yes.

RO's cellphone pinging the tower it did was shown to have easily come from his own office uptown. ie although the physical location of the tower might suggest that the phone should've been in the area of the wharf where DO had stopped, that tower was on the 'neighbour list' for the St John tower. See references to this in the judge's remarks starting at [124] to [134]. DS's phone was apparently not examined for which location it was in when she was doing all of that calling. What if DS texted at 6:44pm.. then started calling.. apparently the calls connected a couple of times (6:49 and 7:15pm for 3-6 seconds), so it was simply 'assumed' that she must have reached DO's voicemail, but this is not known - maybe he actually answered and then hung up on her. What if DO had indeed gotten sick of her demanding aggressive demeanour and was not responding to her.. and so she got in her car and headed over to his office? Then the fellows at the print shop hear the banging at around 7:30pm, which could be when he actually died. What if she slipped out, front, back, whatever, and wasn't noticed. What if she was disguised? It seems not much was investigated surrounding this person of interest. When you think about it, what IF Richard had wanted out of this relationship... how was he to do it.. and what would happen when he did? Would she lose it? My bet is yes. imo.

 

[deugirtni]

On the call record shown in the judge's remarks [114], it shows that DS texted him at 6:44pm.. then she started phoning and phoning.. perhaps because it is easier to make a phonecall than to text while driving? Then there is a space of 40 minutes between 7:29pm and 8:09pm (is this when she arrives, kills him, and drives home again?)

It does such a disservice to everyone when not everything is checked out in an investigation. Obviously police decided in less than 12 hours after the body's discovery that DO was guilty, and everything in the investigation was led in that direction, it seems to the exclusion of any other directions. imo.

 

[MistyWaters]

I think it’d also be a real stretch to conclude the reason R didn’t respond to her texts or calls was because he was already dead by then, particularly if the cellphone pinging off the Rothesay tower was a normal course of events.

BBM
“Defence lawyer Alan Gold said during his cross examination of Walker that Richard Oland often took his time responding to Sedlacek, taking as long as eight hours to answer her messages. Walker agreed that Oland "was not prompt" in responding.“
Murder trial hears Richard Oland's text exchanges with mistress

One thing that does puzzle me regarding R’s frequent lack of timely response in communication with her and if that is so why was she threatening to call his family home if he didn’t reply to her text? And so then, why didn’t she?

Alternate theory - was she frantically calling him for another reason, perhaps the “affair” had become known by others whom she sought to hide it from? The high level of urgency in those contacts by her really stands out but was never satisfactorily explained. JMO

 

[deugirtni]

I think it’d also be a real stretch to conclude the reason R didn’t respond to her texts or calls was because he was already dead, particularly if the cellphone pinging off the Rothesay tower was a normal course of events.

BBM
“Defence lawyer Alan Gold said during his cross examination of Walker that Richard Oland often took his time responding to Sedlacek, taking as long as eight hours to answer her messages. Walker agreed that Oland "was not prompt" in responding.“
Murder trial hears Richard Oland's text exchanges with mistress

One thing that does puzzle me regarding R’s frequent lack of urgency in communication, if that is so why was she threatening to call his family home if he didn’t reply to her text? And so then, why didn’t she?

Maybe it was a threat he'd been hearing for awhile.. it would be interesting to be able to go back on the call logs to see if this was always the way RO responded to her (I doubt it?), or when exactly this started (him taking his time in responding to her). If she had been in the habit of making that threat of calling the home, then he may have known they were empty words. (Or possibly he was beyond caring? If he was anywhere close to breaking it off with her, perhaps he was willing to take that chance, thinking oh well, if his wife finds out, at least he can say it's over - or maybe he already knew his wife already knew?)

With RO being the way that he was in regard to his expectations for his own phonecalls to be promptly answered, it's kind of difficult to imagine him being on the other end with a woman who wasn't even his wife, demanding that he respond to her right away. Reports said he'd just returned from a fishing holiday, presumably not with his gf. He died on a Wed evening. On the Wed, he had meetings during the day, and then his son came to see him after 5pm. Only his third day back and he was ignoring her (perhaps simply due to being busy? Or perhaps trying to cool things off with her?).

It must have been especially difficult for DS, considering she was trying to make arrangements for their upcoming trip together. Who knows what the Monday and Tuesday that week had been like, but I'm imagining perhaps busy for him, if he'd been away fishing, so perhaps he'd been a little 'off' towards her (in her mind), since he'd gotten back?

 

[MistyWaters]

Maybe it was a threat he'd been hearing for awhile.. it would be interesting to be able to go back on the call logs to see if this was always the way RO responded to her (I doubt it?), or when exactly this started (him taking his time in responding to her). If she had been in the habit of making that threat of calling the home, then he may have known they were empty words. (Or possibly he was beyond caring? If he was anywhere close to breaking it off with her, perhaps he was willing to take that chance, thinking oh well, if his wife finds out, at least he can say it's over - or maybe he already knew his wife already knew?)

With RO being the way that he was in regard to his expectations for his own phonecalls to be promptly answered, it's kind of difficult to imagine him being on the other end with a woman who wasn't even his wife, demanding that he respond to her right away. Reports said he'd just returned from a fishing holiday, presumably not with his gf. He died on a Wed evening. On the Wed, he had meetings during the day, and then his son came to see him after 5pm. Only his third day back and he was ignoring her (perhaps simply due to being busy? Or perhaps trying to cool things off with her?).

It must have been especially difficult for DS, considering she was trying to make arrangements for their upcoming trip together. Who knows what the Monday and Tuesday that week had been like, but I'm imagining perhaps busy for him, if he'd been away fishing, so perhaps he'd been a little 'off' towards her (in her mind), since he'd gotten back?

No it didn’t seem the fishing trip was with his girlfriend, nothing said about the sailing trip either....nor the identity of one or more who accompanied him on these excursions as it appears he’d just come back after being gone for more than 8 days.

“He (RM, accountant, business associate ) said Oland had just returned from a sailing trip followed by an eight-day fishing trip "so he wanted to get caught up on his mail."..”
Murder trial hears of Richard Oland's wealth - and son's mounting debts

 

[deugirtni]

No it didn’t seem the fishing trip was with his girlfriend, nothing said about the sailing trip either....nor the identity of one or more who accompanied him on these excursions as it appears he’d just come back after being gone for more than 8 days.

“He (RM, accountant, business associate ) said Oland had just returned from a sailing trip followed by an eight-day fishing trip "so he wanted to get caught up on his mail."..”
Murder trial hears of Richard Oland's wealth - and son's mounting debts

Yes... it occurred to me that it is probably not way out there to wonder if RO may even have 'replaced' DS, unbeknownst to anyone, including her.

We're not hearing anything about who had accompanied him on the trip (wouldn't that also have been interesting and perhaps relevant to this case to know what his mindset had been like over the couple of weeks prior to his death? Is it possible that whomever he was with may have become agitated with him for whatever reason?). Surely he hadn't gone alone. And yes, it appears he must have gone on two trips right before his murder.. the eight day fishing trip, AND a sailing trip? Hmm.

 

[deugirtni]

One thing that I wonder about... what is the possible reasoning, if one is to believe that DO is guilty, for him taking his father's cellphone? It seems the two did not really communicate that way, from anything I've seen. I also read that they pored through mounds of email messages between the two, looking for anything nasty, and found nothing. Yet on the other hand, the mistress's messages are filled with venom. I wonder if LE ever confiscated DS's cellphone to do a forensic examination of it to see if any messages had been deleted and what any such possible messages may have said?

 

[deugirtni]

Also of interest to me, is this info I discovered today in an old MSM article. RO and his mistress had apparently, according to DS, spoken of getting married.

Also, the two had an arrangement whereby they would speak each evening at 6:30pm. Which then raises the question of ... if he failed to respond to her at their usual time, how angry would/could she have become, on top of him seemingly ignoring her already for much of that day?

Sedlacek told police that most of Dick’s family was aware of their relationship. The two had discussed marriage and Dick had arranged to meet with a lawyer to go over the details, Sedlacek told investigators. So public was their affair that the two had a standing arrangement to speak every night at 6:30 p.m.

Murder and a Maritime dynasty: The Dick Oland case - Macleans.ca

edited to correct link

 

[MistyWaters]

Also of interest to me, is this info I discovered today in an old MSM article. RO and his mistress had apparently, according to DS, spoken of getting married.

Also, the two had an arrangement whereby they would speak each evening at 6:30pm. Which then raises the question of ... if he failed to respond to her at their usual time, how angry would/could she have become, on top of him seemingly ignoring her already for much of that day?

Sedlacek told police that most of Dick’s family was aware of their relationship. The two had discussed marriage and Dick had arranged to meet with a lawyer to go over the details, Sedlacek told investigators. So public was their affair that the two had a standing arrangement to speak every night at 6:30 p.m.

Murder and a Maritime dynasty: The Dick Oland case - Macleans.ca

edited to correct link

Given all that, it becomes even more puzzling why LE focused on only DO. For example if a divorce had taken place not only would that involve splitting of the joint net worth of RO and his spouse, but that of DS and her husband as well. No fault divorce, each couple would be potentially looking at a 50/50 split of joint assets. This potentially could’ve impacted the adult children’s future inheritance on both sides, including DS’s husband, if he had children from a prior marriage.

Probably nothing but considering how LE latched onto a financial motive regarding DO, I wonder how deeply did they dig?

 

[jillybean51]

There isn't much written about the 'mistress', but wow, it's maddening to think LE didn't seem to consider her a possibility enough to seriously look at. I was shocked to hear that although she'd had a lie detector, police had actually 'lost' the data, so the specialist couldn't get access to it. (That was in the miniseries.) From what he *was* able to view, she had had a reaction worth following up on, when asked if she'd murdered RO. Then I think about how we he hadn't been responding to her texts for most of the day... and how he'd just returned from a fishing trip (presumably NOT with her), and how as soon as he got back, she was on him, on him, on him, to make plans to go away.. and then the little snippets we were able to read from an email that she had sent to RO a few months earlier. I had only been basing my impression of her as a 'fatal attraction' star on so little, but to find out a little bit more makes me wonder even more why she was never checked out fully. Her alibi was that she had been home with her husband. Did they even verify that with him? According to MSM, her husband did not learn of the 8-year affair until some 15 months after RO's murder, so was he even questioned about his wife's whereabouts (or his own whereabouts) in the days following the murder? I'm thinking *not*, since if he had, he would've wondered how he and his wife would've been a concern to be questioned in the case and it wouldn't have taken 15 months to find out about the affair!

I think it is just so unfair that other things weren't checked out. Where would the cell tower have pinged if the mistress had the phone on her way to her home after potentially killing him? Where did both her and her husband's cellphones tell police where they were at the time of the killing?

"Jiri Sedlacek, 87, testified he first learned of the affair about 15 months later, when his lawyer shared a media report about it with him."
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/oland-trial-mistress-sedlacek-1.3312019

Great post!!She lived on Darlings Island which is not far from Rothesay.I also wonder if the phone could have pinged there on her way by.The phone had lots of texts that she wouldn’t want people to see.Why would DO bother yo take RO’s phone?
What did you make of the mystery man in the parking lot? Hired ?

 

[jillybean51]

Also of interest to me, is this info I discovered today in an old MSM article. RO and his mistress had apparently, according to DS, spoken of getting married.

Also, the two had an arrangement whereby they would speak each evening at 6:30pm. Which then raises the question of ... if he failed to respond to her at their usual time, how angry would/could she have become, on top of him seemingly ignoring her already for much of that day?

Sedlacek told police that most of Dick’s family was aware of their relationship. The two had discussed marriage and Dick had arranged to meet with a lawyer to go over the details, Sedlacek told investigators. So public was their affair that the two had a standing arrangement to speak every night at 6:30 p.m.

Murder and a Maritime dynasty: The Dick Oland case - Macleans.ca

edited to correct link

Also of interest to me, is this info I discovered today in an old MSM article. RO and his mistress had apparently, according to DS, spoken of getting married.

Also, the two had an arrangement whereby they would speak each evening at 6:30pm. Which then raises the question of ... if he failed to respond to her at their usual time, how angry would/could she have become, on top of him seemingly ignoring her already for much of that day?

Sedlacek told police that most of Dick’s family was aware of their relationship. The two had discussed marriage and Dick had arranged to meet with a lawyer to go over the details, Sedlacek told investigators. So public was their affair that the two had a standing arrangement to speak every night at 6:30 p.m.

Murder and a Maritime dynasty: The Dick Oland case - Macleans.ca

edited to correct link

I don’t think RO’s wife knew since DS threatened to call his house if he didn’t answer her calls.

 

[deugirtni]

I wonder... if it is even true that RO had discussed marriage with DS.. and if he had met with a lawyer to discuss his options/possibilities/ramifications.. what would that have looked like, and would RO have been willing to sacrifice so much of his wealth to a divorce? And if any such legal advice had scared him off, and how would he have dealt with that? And what was DS's end game? She was married to a man in his later 80s, and the mistress of another man in his later 60s who was very wealthy.

 

[deugirtni]

I don’t think RO’s wife knew since DS threatened to call his house if he didn’t answer her calls.

It was said after the murder that RO's wife had indeed known about it. Apparently the kids all tried to protect her from it, but she knew nonetheless. Hard to hide something like that with a wealthy family in a small town and for eight years. In DO's interrogation, the officer mentions to DO how his mother had already been aware of it. Plus we heard about how DS was seen in the neighbourhood of the marital home and had made spooky phonecalls. Gotta hand it to CO, she sure handled everything like a saint and with such grace. I don't for a moment suspect her of being involved in any capacity. I think it was likely something that was not discussed between CO and her husband, however if she had been told outright, it would have caused some kind of a reaction or consequence for someone to take place. imo.

 

[deugirtni]

Great post!!She lived on Darlings Island which is not far from Rothesay.I also wonder if the phone could have pinged there on her way by.The phone had lots of texts that she wouldn’t want people to see.Why would DO bother yo take RO’s phone?
What did you make of the mystery man in the parking lot? Hired ?

Sorry, I must have missed that part.. which part can that be seen in? Soon I will have to watch all of them again.

 

[deugirtni]

.... Sedlacek told police that most of Dick’s family was aware of their relationship. The two had discussed marriage and Dick had arranged to meet with a lawyer to go over the details, Sedlacek told investigators. So public was their affair that the two had a standing arrangement to speak every night at 6:30 p.m.

Murder and a Maritime dynasty: The Dick Oland case - Macleans.ca

I would like to know the timelines of *when* the two had discussed marriage, and *when* DO had arranged to meet with a lawyer to go over the details, and whether or not that had happened yet. So much is missing!