Court told victims were hit with blunt object
Forensic investigator describes finding multiple bloodstains throughout house
Warning: Graphic Content
Both Kathy and Alvin Liknes would have been struck while on or near the floor of separate bedrooms in their Calgary home, a bloodstain pattern analyst testified Wednesday.
Acting Sgt. Jodi Arns, with the Calgary Police Service’s forensic crime scenes unit, examined the couple’s residence on July 1, 2014, the day after they and their grandson disappeared.
Arns told Crown prosecutor Shane Parker she found bloodstains throughout the house, on the main level, the upper level and a lower landing, as well as stairs leading to those areas.
DNA testing showed the blood belonged to both Likneses and their five-year-old grandson, Nathan O’Brien.
One particularly disturbing stain was what looked like a swipe of four fingers on a hallway closet at the top of the stairs to the upper left.
The 8 cm-wide staining was 60 cm above the floor, or at Arns’ knee level, she said.
That stain was tested for DNA with the major profile matching Kathy Liknes and the minor profile matching the boy.
On trial for three counts of first-degree murder is Douglas Garland.
Garland, 57, is accused of violently kidnapping Kathy, 53, Alvin, 66, and their grandson from their Parkhill home in southwest Calgary.
It’s the Crown’s theory he then took them to his Airdrie farm and murdered them, because of a grudge Garland held against Alvin over an oilfield pump the grandfather later patented under his name.
The bodies of the three victims have never been found, but the DNA of all three was found on the Garland property.
Arns testified that both Kathy and Nathan’s blood was found on a bed in the front room of the couple’s home on 38A Ave. S.W.
“There was at least one impact ... to Kathy Liknes,” the officer told the three-woman, 10-man jury. (The case started with 14 jurors, but one was excused because of a death in his family).
“It’s my opinion that Kathy was on the floor at the time of impact when these stains were made,” she said of a large bloodied area on the floor and lower wall of the front room.
Arns said the woman would have been struck with a blunt object.
“I can’t tell you exactly what caused the impact,” she said.
“There was significant impact to cause the stains.”
While Nathan’s blood was found on the bed, she could not say what caused him to bleed.
In the master bedroom, Arns found another bloody scene beside the bed.
“The blood source, which was Alvin in this case, was low to the ground,” she told Parker.
As well as on the floor and on the side of the bed, Arns found blood on a night stand, a bamboo drum, an upended television and the room’s air conditioner, she testified.
“It’s my opinion that there was a minimum of one impact to Alvin,” Arns said.
“The blood source was on or near the ground,” she said.
“He may have been hit/struck several times.”
Arns also found the blood of both of the adult victims leading to the side door of the split-level home.
“There was also an impact pattern that was visible,” she said, indicating Alvin was struck there as well.
“The blood source, which would have been Alvin, was at, or near floor level when this impact occurred.”
Meanwhile, jurors heard evidence about Garland’s arrest in the early morning hours of July 14, 2014.
Constables Richard Massicotte and Dale Linton were part of a team conducting mobile surveillance on Garland when he was spotted trying to return to his family’s farm through a back entrance.
Massicotte said Garland fled when a marked unit with lights flashing pulled up and he was arrested a short time later.
There was at least one impact ... to Kathy Liknes. It’s my opinion that Kathy was on the floor at the time of impact when these stains were made.