Police officers who first arrived at the scene of a triple murder in June 2014 says they found bloodstains throughout the home of Alvin and Kathy Liknes.

56-year-old Douglas Garland is charged with three counts of first-degree murder in connection with the deaths of Alvin and Kathy Liknes and their grandson Nathan O’Brien.

He was charged after police conducted a search of the rural property near Airdrie where he lived with his parents.

On the opening day of the trial on Monday, Garland’s lawyer entered a not guilty plea on his behalf.

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Testimony on Wednesday began with CPS Constable Trevor Matthes, who said he responded to the scene of the Liknes' Parkhill home on just after 10:00 a.m. on June 30.

The call was for a check on welfare report, but Matthes was told that Jennifer O'Brien had already been inside and found a 'large amount of blood in the residence'.

When he entered the home, Matthes noted there was no sign of forced entry into the home. He further testified that he found a large amount of blood on the stairs inside the home and blood smeared on the walls.

There were drag marks in the hallway and leading up to the main floor of the home and in the garage, he said.

In the master bedroom, Matthes said that there was a large amount of blood on the right side of the bed. The sheets had been pulled off and were on the floor.

He told the court that the house took about six to eight minutes to search and there was no one found inside.

Matthes told the court that the only things he found in the home other than the bloodstains was a dumbbell stained with blood in the hallway leading the garage and what he believed was a tooth on the floor.

He spent about two hours at the home before the Homicide Unit arrived at the scene, Matthes told the court.

The second witness called to the stand on Wednesday was Constable Derek Alexon, an 18-year veteran in the Forensic Crimes Unit.

Alexon told the court that he photographed the crime scene in the Liknes home and was also called to attend the investigation at the Garland farm. He also examined the green Ford truck.

When it came to the crime scene in Calgary, Alexon said a lot of blood was found inside the home.

"We saw what we believed to be blood on three of the four levels of the residence," he told the court.

Alexon also said that officers were told that Nathan O'Brien may have been hiding somewhere in the home, but the officers weren't able to find him during their search.

He went so far to say that the case, in it's early stages, was treated as a possible kidnapping or robbery investigation.

During proceedings on Tuesday, the court heard from Garland’s father, mother and sister.

Testimony revealed that Garland regularly went to see a psychiatrist and happened to miss a regular appointment around the time the murders took place.

Archie, his father, told the court that he didn’t have many friends but he was not a violent person.

His mother Doreen told the court that he was ‘an unhappy man’.

“He wasn’t the type of person who would come up to me and ask ‘how are you doing?’”

Garland’s sister Patti told the court that the connection to the Liknes family came through her common-law relationship with Alvin’s son Allen.

She said that Douglas was unhappy about business dealings with Alvin and Allen Liknes and that he seemed to become more upset about them as time passed.

Patti testified that she was the one who broke the case for police, identifying the green pickup truck seen in security video as belonging to her brother.

The Crown contends that Garland extensively planned the murders of Alvin and Kathy Liknes, against whom he held a grudge over a failed business venture in regards to a gas pump he worked on with Alvin.

Five-year-old Nathan was at the home at the time Garland put his plan in motion and the prosecution says he incorporated the child into his plan as well.

The trial is scheduled to last five weeks and the Crown is expected to call 60 witnesses to testify, including family members, police and forensic experts.


@CTVInaSidhu and @CTVJKanygin are covering the trial for CTV Calgary.