Person of interest in missing family case set to be freed
CALGARY — 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 Rem and Centre on two identitytheft 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 a court appearance Friday.
Garland has not been charged in connection with the disappearance of Nathan O’Brien and his grandparents, Alvin and Kathy Liknes, but police are focusing 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.
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.
Incourt 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.
Although Ross declined to discuss what bail conditions Garland will have to follow, it’s standard for an accused to provide an address that meets the approval of authorities.
Ga rla nd appea red 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, 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.
In 1992, police charged Garland with drug-related offences in connection with an illegal drug lab found on his parents’ land — the same property now being searched.
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 they 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 reaching the high 20s, paramedics were also on scene 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.
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.