Jurors in the Douglas Garland case are expected to hear evidence Monday about the triple-murder suspect’s obsession with a Calgary couple. \u00a0Court heard last Thursday about a computer hard drive police found stashed in the rafters of the basement of the Airdrie farm Garland lived at with his elderly parents.<\/p>\n
In her opening address two weeks ago, Crown prosecutor Vicki Faulkner detailed what was allegedly found on the data storage device.<\/p>\n
“What you will see is the obsessive research done,” Faulkner said, of what the prosecution says was uncovered on the hard drive.<\/p>\n
“Research that will show you how the accused continued to keep his grudge against Alvin (Liknes) alive,” she said, of a dispute Garland had with the Calgary man over the patenting of a pump both men had worked on.<\/p>\n
Faulkner told jurors Garland’s Internet queries started to incorporate Liknes’ wife Kathy.<\/p>\n
Garland, 57, is charged with three counts of first-degree murder in the June 30, 2014 disappearance of the couple and their five-year-old grandson, Nathan O’Brien, from their Parkhill home in southwest Calgary.<\/p>\n
It’s the Crown’s theory Garland violently kidnapped the trio from the residence and murdered them at his farm.<\/p>\n
In her opening address detailing what is allegedly contained on the hard drive, Faulkner told jurors Garland engaged in “meticulous, painstaking research.<\/p>\n
“Research about murder and how to kill without emotion. Research on torture,” she said.<\/p>\n
“Research showing a fascination with autopsies and the female body being autopsied and dissected, and a fascination with restrained and diapered women.”<\/p>\n
In evidence last week court heard about the hundreds of exhibits seized from the 16-ha Garland property, which included a bag containing about 50 pairs of adult hospital diapers.<\/p>\n
Lead forensics investigator Const. Ian Oxton detailed the items found, which included a hacksaw and two hacksaw blades, two meat hooks, dozens of knives, handcuffs and leather restraints.<\/p>\n
“He methodically researched not only ways to kill but weapons to kill with, not only how to perform autopsies but tools to perform them with,” Faulkner said.<\/p>\n
Garland’s Internet exploration not only showed him ways to kill, but helped him carry out the murders, the prosecutor alleged.<\/p>\n
“This was not just research, it was research that led to action, research that led the accused to purchase weapons and tools for killing and dismembering,” she said.<\/p>\n
Oxton, who was on the witness stand for parts of three days, told the three-woman, 11-man jury police conducted an extensive search of the Garland residence and the outbuildings on the property.<\/p>\n
Oxton also sifted through six large barrels of ash taken from a fire pit on the farm.<\/p>\n
Over a 10-month period he painstakingly sifted through the ashes, putting in approximately 550 hours looking for evidence.<\/p>\n
Among the items found “was 17 fragments that could be teeth,” he said.<\/p>\n
He also found “items of jewelry,” an earring, a small bracelet and “buttons for clothing.”<\/p>\n
A search of the garage uncovered numerous chemicals, including a half-empty bottle of chloroform and insulin.<\/p>\n
Garland’s trial is scheduled for five weeks.<\/p>\n
By: Kevin Martin<\/p>\n
Source:\u00a0calgarysun.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"