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

[deugirtni]

Considering that jurors are never allowed to speak of their stint as jurors in Canada.. I'm not sure it would make sense to have all this stuff publicized.. because then we would have the general public widely sharing their opinions, questioning the verdicts and the sentences, etc. OTOH, maybe juries *should* have to account for how they reached their verdicts, considering some really don't make sense. Seems odd that on a judge-only trial, a judge has to account for all of his/her reasoning in a given case, whereas we're never allowed to know why/how juries came to their decisions. I'm not sure how it works as far as appeals, but wondering if it is easier to appeal a judge-only trial, *because* of the judge listing all of his reasoning (thereby leaving room for others to see fault with it), than it is to appeal a jury verdict, where the reasoning is never known?

 

[Errrr]

Yeah, it's weird. Maybe DO thinks crackheads are really dumb. He never once asked if anyone took anything, in his interview.. but was throwing theories out like quarters, cha-ching!

Are you suggesting it leads to the mistress because taking the phone would be her style?

Why do you think the killer took the phone?

I think he wanted to see what correspondence went on with the girlfriend and then he dumped it next morning in a US bound sailboat.

 

[Errrr]

Yeah, it's weird. Maybe DO thinks crackheads are really dumb. He never once asked if anyone took anything, in his interview.. but was throwing theories out like quarters, cha-ching!

Are you suggesting it leads to the mistress because taking the phone would be her style?

Why do you think the killer took the phone?

I think he wanted to see what correspondence went on with the girlfriend and then he dumped it next morning in a US bound sailboat.

Can I just add.... DO "accidentally" txted his sister Lisa when he meant to txt his wife, however ignored a call from his wife during the time of the 3rd meeting.....

Its possible the sister was involved. And yes what's the deal with McFadden? I wonder if he and DO ever hung out.. had a Moosehead together, lol

Didn’t he say he left his phone in the car on the third visit? Also, I think they said he took his jacket off and put it in the trunk. So, if he did the murder on the third visit, how did blood get on his jacket? His dad didn’t appear to continue with computer or phone between second and third visits so isn’t it possible he was murdered on the second one?

 

[Errrr]

Yeah, it's weird. Maybe DO thinks crackheads are really dumb. He never once asked if anyone took anything, in his interview.. but was throwing theories out like quarters, cha-ching!

Are you suggesting it leads to the mistress because taking the phone would be her style?

Why do you think the killer took the phone?

I think he wanted to see what correspondence went on with the girlfriend and then he dumped it next morning in a US bound sailboat.

Can I just add.... DO "accidentally" txted his sister Lisa when he meant to txt his wife, however ignored a call from his wife during the time of the 3rd meeting.....

Its possible the sister was involved. And yes what's the deal with McFadden? I wonder if he and DO ever hung out.. had a Moosehead together, lol

Didn’t he say he left his phone in the car on the third visit? Also, I think they said he took his jacket off and put it in the trunk. So, if he did the murder on the third visit, how did blood get on his jacket? His dad didn’t appear to continue with computer or phone between second and third visits so isn’t it possible he was murdered on the second one?

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

I don’t think either Sedlacek were up to jumping off a garage roof. If anyone entered or exited the front door, wouldn’t it be one video just like all the stuff they had on DO? It seems that all the video shows that nobody else was seem coming or going, no matter what “witnesses” thought they might have seen, years later.

 

[Errrr]

I’m reviewing the interrogation video and at 1:40:15 Dennis says “I have this green book that somebody wrote back in the early 70’s, that y’know I was gonna give him. And I left that in my office. That was the thing that I had wanted the most.”

That’s kinda weird, right? He’s saying the log book was in his own office and that it’s the item that he had tried to go back to get, but couldn’t because he didn’t have key.
he doesn’t mention the log book again in the interrogation, from what I recall.

I wonder if anyone ever checked that it was in fact, in his office since he didn’t pick it up the next day either cause he went to the yacht instead?

 

[casesensitive]

I wonder if anyone ever checked that it was in fact, in his office since he didn’t pick it up the next day either cause he went to the yacht instead?

That's a good point Errrr on the green book that DO said he went to retrieve in his office. I would be surprised if LE didn't check that out since they had zeroed in on him immediately. If it wasn't found in his office, I'm pretty sure it would have been significant evidence at trial to prove DO was lying. The fact that neither the prosecution nor the defense mentioned it makes me think it wasn't an issue in the investigation.

I'm not sure why you think anybody would have to "jump off a roof" to exit the rear of RO's office. The back door exit from his office led to a few stairs to the ground level.

I think DO is "probably" innocent, but I really appreciate hearing opinions from fellow WS members.

 

[Errrr]

That's a good point Errrr on the green book that DO said he went to retrieve in his office. I would be surprised if LE didn't check that out since they had zeroed in on him immediately. If it wasn't found in his office, I'm pretty sure it would have been significant evidence at trial to prove DO was lying. The fact that neither the prosecution nor the defense mentioned it makes me think it wasn't an issue in the investigation.

I'm not sure why you think anybody would have to "jump off a roof" to exit the rear of RO's office. The back door exit from his office led to a few stairs to the ground level.

I think DO is "probably" innocent, but I really appreciate hearing opinions from fellow WS members.

Like a lot of people, I’m sceptical the police followed up on that. I lean toward guilty but understand the weight of doubt on this case. I still think DO took that phone and note from girlfriend to the beach. I suspect he was pondering suicide there. He had previously mentioned he never saw concrete evidence of cheating himself. That note laying on the desk could have been an eye opener.
I just finished reading the book which I picked up due to the documentary that aired recently. There was serious controversy about bias due to connections between DOs lawyer and the producer. That’s why I’m revisiting this. In the book, it mentioned the rear exit route required some jumping around roofs and fences. The secretary said she locked that door so someone would have had to unlock it again.

 

[MistyWaters]

One thing I’ve thought about, assuming DO is truly innocent, then it probably wasn’t a total coincidence RO was murdered later that same evening after DO stopped by his office. DO made a perfect fall guy to frame including timing/opportunity as he stood to financially benefit from his father’s murder even if the true killer’s motive was quite different, such as reprisal or revenge. But during DO’s interrogation it was obvious LE were strongly driven by the financial motive as well and probably this had a huge bearing on the jury’s verdict of guilty during the first trial.

I think somebody else murdered RO and the motive was connected to his overall lack of personal integrity. We learned a little about his personal life including the relationship with his longterm mistress so it’d be unlikely his business dealings were operated in a manner beyond reproach.

How bad is that when LE and the Prosecutor’s Office used tactics to attempt to flout the system in order to seek a conviction, so sure they were.

“But a mistrial was declared on Nov. 20, by Morrison after it was discovered that a Saint John police officer used a police database to track all interactions would-be jurors had with police.

Some of that information was then passed along to the Crown during the jury selection process.

It’s a process that is known as jury-shopping and a 2012 Supreme Court of Canada decision restricted police to checking only for criminal convictions.”
Prosecution of Dennis Oland cost New Brunswick $1.5 million — so far

 

[jillybean51]

I think he wanted to see what correspondence went on with the girlfriend and then he dumped it next morning in a US bound sailboat.

Didn’t he say he left his phone in the car on the third visit? Also, I think they said he took his jacket off and put it in the trunk. So, if he did the murder on the third visit, how did blood get on his jacket? His dad didn’t appear to continue with computer or phone between second and third visits so isn’t it possible he was murdered on the second one?

I don’t think either Sedlacek were up to jumping off a garage roof. If anyone entered or exited the front door, wouldn’t it be one video just like all the stuff they had on DO? It seems that all the video shows that nobody else was seem coming or going, no matter what “witnesses” thought they might have seen, years later.

There was a back door.... no camera.

 

[MistyWaters]

There was a back door.... no camera.

More on the back door -

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-...r-forensic-evidence-smith-back-door-1.4925985
“Smith said he intended to dust the door for fingerprints and swab it for DNA after he finished processing the office. But by mid-afternoon, somebody had opened the door,

"The door and the door latch had been handled, negating my plan" to test it, he said.

The RCMP forensic lab was "not very willing" to take any touch DNA submissions to begin with because of the low probability of getting any results, he explained.

"To aggravate that again, somebody else touching on top of the touch DNA — they probably would not have ever taken that at that point.".....

.......His primary focus, he said, was the "core" crime scene, which he had to photograph, fingerprint and swab.

He also helped to remove the body from the bloody office, and escorted the body to the morgue at the Saint John Regional Hospital, where an autopsy was scheduled to be performed the following day.

When he returned to the office, he noticed the back door was open.

"Did you find out who might have opened the door?" asked Veniot.

"No," replied Smith.

"Were you able to determine if it was locked or unlocked?"

"I was not able to determine that.".....”

 

[jillybean51]

If someone had hidden out in the office being renovated,after hours,they might go undetected if they left via the back door.Hopefully they checked that all people entering the building that day , on camera,were also seen leaving.Also someone there that day could have stuck a piece of cardboard in the back door,left in camera and returned to the back door later on.

 

[deugirtni]

In the CBC series, there was also mention of a vehicle seen, person getting out, and a determination of where that individual would had to have walked in order to miss the cameras that were there. I believe that vehicle (and person) was never identified.

 

[deugirtni]

I wonder if RO's girlfriend's phone and vehicle was ever analyzed as far as digging deeper, ie into GPS systems and perhaps also deleted texts which may not be visible just looking through a phone's texts, etc. Somehow I am doubting this ever occurred, since it seemed that police were right away accusing DO and trying to build a case solely on that possibility.

 

[Arnie M]

One thing I’ve thought about, assuming DO is truly innocent, then it probably wasn’t a total coincidence RO was murdered later that same evening after DO stopped by his office. DO made a perfect fall guy to frame including timing/opportunity as he stood to financially benefit from his father’s murder even if the true killer’s motive was quite different, such as reprisal or revenge. But during DO’s interrogation it was obvious LE were strongly driven by the financial motive as well and probably this had a huge bearing on the jury’s verdict of guilty during the first trial.

I think somebody else murdered RO and the motive was connected to his overall lack of personal integrity. We learned a little about his personal life including the relationship with his longterm mistress so it’d be unlikely his business dealings were operated in a manner beyond reproach.

How bad is that when LE and the Prosecutor’s Office used tactics to attempt to flout the system in order to seek a conviction, so sure they were.

“But a mistrial was declared on Nov. 20, by Morrison after it was discovered that a Saint John police officer used a police database to track all interactions would-be jurors had with police.

Some of that information was then passed along to the Crown during the jury selection process.

It’s a process that is known as jury-shopping and a 2012 Supreme Court of Canada decision restricted police to checking only for criminal convictions.”
Prosecution of Dennis Oland cost New Brunswick $1.5 million — so far

I had considered that but it did not pencil out .... the killer would have to be lurking or in the building to know DO was there .... not to mention all the times DO came , left, came back , left and came back , and left .... not to mention if the killer was smart enough to have planned it out that way he would also have been smart enough to realize that at the time of death DO would (could) very likely have a solid alibi .... which for all practical purposes he did have (shopping with his wife)

Should also mention when considering all that ... the finger would point to the accountant who was in and out and helping his son renovate the office after hours etc .... wouldn't be the first time an embezzler snuffed out his victim.

 

[YESorNO]

Brunswick Police Commission releases report into review of Richard Oland investigation

May 29, 2020

"HALIFAX -- The New Brunswick Police Commission has released its final report into the review of how the Saint John Police Force handled the investigation into the murder of multi-millionaire businessman Richard Oland....

In August, the Saint John Police Force said it was no longer actively investigating Richard Oland’s murder, despite the acquittal of his son.'

New Brunswick Police Commission releases report into review of Richard Oland investigation
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Oland says report doesn't discuss missteps in father's murder investigation

May 31, 2020

"SAINT JOHN, N.B. -- The man at the centre of a high-profile murder case says a report by the New Brunswick Police Commission missed the intent of its review of how the Saint John Police Force conducts investigations.

Dennis Oland says it's regrettable the review did not address missteps during the investigation into the murder of his father, Richard Oland, in 2011...."

Oland says report doesn't discuss missteps in father's murder investigation

 

[jillybean51]

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-...ll-house-rothesay-lisa-andrik-oland-1.5612725

 

[MistyWaters]

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-...ll-house-rothesay-lisa-andrik-oland-1.5612725

So.. probably not a huge surprise as statistically about 60% of 2nd marriages end in divorce and this marriage was fraught with Ds legal proceedings for much of the 11 year duration as well.

She may not be successful in preventing or financially benefitting from the sale of the home in D’s name, as in Canada inheritances are usually not considered marital property.

That’s a beautiful place and even though it’s been in the Oland family for 70 years, it probably also requires a huge amount of capital to maintain it. It’s probably a good thing us “common folk” do not feel the same obligation in keeping the same family home throughout the generations.

 

[Arnie M]

According to the article , Lisa gave up her job and many of her personal assets in order to stand behind Dennis through all his charges and trials etc ...... if that is the case , he is being very inconsiderate by financially abandoning her now.

 

[MistyWaters]

According to the article , Lisa gave up her job and many of her personal assets in order to stand behind Dennis through all his charges and trials etc ...... if that is the case , he is being very inconsiderate by financially abandoning her now.

Canadian laws definitely do not allow financial abandonment due to divorce. The main topic of the CBC report seems to be conflict over Ds intention to list the property as she’s still living in the home. She’s agreed to 50/50 split of other assets and debt and as she has no income, D will be required to pay alimony. A great many separations/divorces are contentious and this one seems no different. Good thing no minor children are involved.

 

[casesensitive]

According to the article , Lisa gave up her job and many of her personal assets in order to stand behind Dennis through all his charges and trials etc ...... if that is the case , he is being very inconsiderate by financially abandoning her now.

I am shocked that their relationship has deteriorated to this level. Without knowing the cause of the breakup, I can't judge DO or LO. But it is sad imo.

eta: So much for Dick trying to keep the home in the Oland family.