Calgary jury hears disturbing details in Liknes-O’Brien murder case
Posted January 16, 2017 2:52 pm.
Last Updated January 16, 2017 5:33 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
CALGARY – A murder trial has heard that a Calgary couple and their young grandson were killed and then taken to a rural property where they were burned.
The first witness in the Douglas Garland murder trial says she found blood everywhere when she went to her mom and stepfather’s home two years ago to pick up her five-year-old son.
Garland is charged with three counts of first-degree murder in the disappearance of Alvin and Kathy Liknes and their grandson, Nathan O’Brien.
Jennifer O’Brien says when she arrived at the house to pick up Nathan, the door was open and there were pools of blood and bloody handprints on the wall.
The Crown told the jury that DNA evidence from Alvin and Kathy Liknes and five-year-old Nathan O’Brien — including a small piece of burned flesh — was found on the accused’s farm.
Crown prosecutor Vicki Faulkner said Garland was acting on a long-held petty grudge against Alvin Liknes and had been meticulously planning the killings.
She said the boy was an unintended victim.
Garland was arrested after the couple and their grandson vanished from the couple’s Calgary home in June 2014.
