Person of interest poised for release
Officers scour Spyhill landfill as search widens —
The man considered a person of interest in the disappearance of a five-year-old Calgary boy and his grandparents is set to be freed from custody on unrelated charges as police widen their search for the missing trio.
Douglas Garland, 54, is being held at the Calgary Remand Centre on two identity-theft offences unrelated to the missing persons case.
In a brief court hearing Wednesday, lawyers representing the Crown and Garland said they are discussing bail conditions ahead of another court appearance on Friday.
Garland has not been charged in connection with the disappearance of Nathan O’Brien and his grandparents, Alvin and Kathryn Liknes, but police are centring many of their search efforts on a 16-hectare farm in Airdrie owned by Garland’s parents.
On Wednesday, Calgary police focused on an additional location, sending officers to search a section of the Spyhill Landfill in the city’s northwest.
“When there is a scene or a crime scene, a fatal mistake would be ever to make the assumption that it’s limited to a particular area. You always have to look at any possibilities and ensure that your investigation encompasses all potential investigative possibilities. Better to widen the net than to restrict it too much,” police Chief Rick Hanson said.
Garland was charged with unlawful possession of identification and unlawful possession of a bank card after police took him for questioning at the farm last Friday.
In court Wednesday, Crown prosecutor Shane Parker and defence lawyer Kim Ross told Judge Joanne Durant they are working out terms to have Garland released.
The main impediment, they told court, was finding Garland a place to live once he’s granted bail.
“There were a couple of glitches that we need to iron out before Friday,” Ross said outside court.
Although Ross declined to discuss what conditions Garland will have to follow on bail, it’s a standard requirement for an accused to provide an address that meets the approval of authorities.
Garland appeared in court via a video link from the remand centre as the missing boy’s father, Rod O’Brien, watched from the courtroom.
Other than briefly answering routine questions from the judge, Garland was silent for most of the brief hearing.
At several points, Garland leaned toward the monitor providing him with a view of the courtroom via video link, prompting Durant to ask him if he was having trouble hearing the proceedings.
“Bad eyesight,” replied Garland, whose sister is in a common-law relationship with Alvin Liknes’s son.
The charges against Garland are in connection with ID and a bank card allegedly in the name of a young Alberta boy whose identity he assumed while unlawfully at large during the 1990s.
In 1992, police charged Garland with drug-related offences in connection with an illegal drug lab found on his parents’ land — the same property being searched now by police.
Garland evaded justice for nearly seven years by jumping bail and living in B.C.’s Lower Mainland using the identity of Matthew Hartley, a 14-year-old southern Alberta boy who died in a 1980 car crash.
Police found Garland in 1999 after a tip from the public and he was handed a 39-month sentence in 2000. In addition to Garland’s family connection to Alvin Liknes, sources have said the two were in business together several years ago but it ended acrimoniously.
Police have said the business arrangement is just one of several avenues investigators are exploring.
On Wednesday, police and RCMP shifted their search efforts back to the buildings on the Garland acreage, after spending much of the past two days combing nearby fields for potential evidence.
The Airdrie Fire Department was on scene in case any chemicals were found and a handful of firefighters in hazardous materials suits were seen on the property.
With temperatures soaring into the high 20s, paramedics were also called in as a precautionary measure to support the searchers.
Wednesday marked the fifth full day of the search at the northeast Airdrie property. Police were first led to the acreage on the weekend after they received a tip that a truck was spotted on the property that matched the description of the green Ford F150 seen circling around the Likneses’ Parkhill neighbourhood on the night of their disappearance.
The trio disappeared sometime after an estate sale at the home of Alvin and Kathryn Liknes, who were planning to downsize and spend some time in Mexico before moving to the Edmonton area.
Nathan’s mother, Jennifer O’Brien, had been at the weekend estate sale with Nathan and left him at his grandparents’ home the night of June 29 for a sleepover.
It was Jennifer O’Brien who reported them missing the next morning when she returned to the house and no one was there.
Police said the home was the scene of a violent struggle and issued an Amber Alert for Nathan that remains in effect.
Investigators have sent evidence gathered at the home for forensic testing, and asked for the results to be expedited.
Police have also renewed an appeal to rural home and business owners to check their properties for anything suspicious.
“This is one where we can’t risk missing anything. The stakes are way too high for a number of reasons. What happened to that family is beyond tragic. It’s really, really something that’s caused people in the community to pause and wonder about their own personal safety,” Hanson said.
“We have to make sure that not only are we doing everything possible, but we’re reaching out to the community, and nobody is timid or hesitant to let us know about any piece of information that they may think is relevant.”