INVESTIGATION MOVING ‘FORWARD’
POLICE SAY DISAPPEARANCE OF GRANDPARENTS, BOY IS ‘LESS OF A MYSTERY’
We are putting every resource that’s required … into following up every lead and making sure this investigation is thorough and complete
POLICE CHIEF RICK HANSON
As a police investigation into the disappearance of five-year-old Nathan O’Brien and his grandparents enters its fifth day, officers say new information has helped them better understand the mystery that has attracted international attention.
But police said they have no motive and were coy about whether they have identified suspects into the alleged kidnapping of Alvin and Kathryn Liknes and their grandson.
Investigators have been reviewing surveillance footage and combing through tips that have come in from across the country.
In the past 24 hours, the case has become “less of a mystery to us,” Staff Sgt. Doug Andrus told reporters. “I can’t comment on the degree.”
There are “no suspects I can name,” he said. When pressed on whether there was anyone of interest, he replied: “We’ve had information that’s allowed us to move forward.”
Nathan was last seen by his mother Sunday evening when she dropped him off at the home of his grandparents. Police believe the couple and grandson left the Likneses’ Parkhill home against their will sometime between Sunday night and Monday morning, following an estate sale at the house over the weekend.
The missing persons investigation has gripped Calgary and attracted messages of hope and support from across North America. A blog set up to capture those messages — www. nathankathyalvin.com — featured nearly 800 posts and counting at 5 p.m., with messages coming in from Minnesota, Texas, Prince Edward Island, Halifax and Toronto, among other places.
Premier Dave Hancock said his “thoughts and prayers” were with the family as they coped with the tragic ordeal.
“We just have to support the family as strongly as we can as a community, to rally around them and, we have to, of course, put our expectation that police will do everything they can to locate these people,” Hancock said.
Police Chief Rick Hanson said he is now “convinced” there are people who may have information that could shed more light on the case. He said police are “committing huge resources” to the investigation, as he acknowledged the tragic ordeal befalling the family.
“We also realize how it impacts the community. I know that everybody in this community is looking at their own streets, looking at their own homes, looking at their own kids and wondering if they’re doing enough to keep them safe,” Hanson said.
“I can assure the citizens of this community that we are putting every resource that’s required, every resource that’s necessary into following up every lead and making sure this investigation is thorough and complete.”
While investigators followed up on fresh tips that emerged after the family members of the missing trio issued pleas for help, police were also stationed at the Parkhill Stanley Park Community Hall to speak with anyone who attended the estate sale at the Likneses’ home.
Visitors were seen entering the building and leaving 40 to 60 minutes later. Police are trying to figure out what items were purchased at the sale and what remains in the home, and Andrus said police are fingerprinting residents in an effort to match prints found inside the home.
The Likneses had been preparing for a long-planned move to Mexico, with eventual plans to take up residence in Edmonton.
Andrus said it is believed that between 200 and 300 people attended the estate sale, with 20 to 30 showing up by Thursday afternoon.
“We’re very confident that we’re gonna find these people,” Andrus said of the missing family members, “and we hope we’ll find them alive.”