Police continue to search for Nathan O’Brien and Alvin and Kathy Liknes and are combing through fields and buildings in and around a farm east of Airdrie.
The three have been missing for over a week and were last seen at the Liknes’ home in the southwest community of Parkill/ Stanley Park on Sunday, June 29.
Nathan’s mother went to pick him up from a sleepover on Monday morning and found an empty house.
Police have been searching for the five-year-old and his grandparents ever since.
The focus of the search shifted to a farm off of Range Road 291, north of Highway 567, on Friday evening and a man was taken in for questioning and released.
Police say he is still considered a person of interest in the case and he was identified by neighbours as Douglas Garland.
Garland, 54, was arrested by police on an unrelated matter shortly after he was released and is being held in custody until his next court appearance on Wednesday.
On Tuesday, police continued to search through fields and around sloughs near the farm and they are also looking at other areas to deploy search crews.
- Map and Timeline: Calgary Amber Alert case
“Today our officers along with our partners at the RCMP are once again searching a rural property outside of Airdrie in connection to this case. The search will continue until no stone has been left unturned,” said Kevin Brookwell of the Calgary Police Service.
"Right now we’re looking at an area that’s several square kilometers and we don’t know currently if we’re going to have to search that entire area. It’s based on the priorities from the investigators," said Insp. Garrett Woolsey, Commander of the Special Tactical Operations for the RCMP.
Police still want the public to be on the lookout for the green truck they released a photo of on Friday even though they found a truck of a similar description at the farm.
“Investigators are still working to determine the relevance of the vehicle and confirm any connection to this investigation,” said Brookwell.
They are conducting a forensic examination of the vehicle to determine if it is relevant to the investigation and have siezed a number of items during a search of the property.
"There are items that have been taken from that location. There's items that have been taken from the home, those have all been sent up to the crime lab Whether or not that has any relevance to this file, we don’t know," said Brookwell.
An AMBER Alert was issued on July 5 for Nathan O'Brien and is still in effect.
"At this point we’re still receiving tips from the AMBER Alert so we’ll have it remain in effect until such time as that information is no longer coming in and then the investigators will determine if we’re going to pull that AMBER Alert," said Brookwell.
Police have over 100 officers working the case and say they are hopeful the three will be found alive.
"Absolutely," said Brookwell, "We have no indication whatsoever to indicate anything other than that."
Brookwell also confirmed a connection between the family and Doug Garland.
"There is a loose family connction, I understand that Mr. Garland, his sister is common-law with a relative of one of the Liknes family members," said Brookwell.
Police say they are still looking to talk to anyone who attended the estate sale at the Liknes home at the end of June.
Police are asking anyone with additional information to call 403-266-1234 or Crime Stoppers anonymously using any of the following methods:
TALK: 1-800-222-8477
TYPE: calgarycrimestoppers.org
TEXT: tttTIPS to 274637
