Forensic dentist says ‘baby tooth’ recovered from ashes at murder suspect’s farm

CALGARY — A forensic dentist testified Thursday that he was able to identify what was very likely a baby tooth in the ashes found at the farm of a triple- murder suspect.

Dr. William Blair examined a number of fragments in July 2014 that were recovered from the property north of Calgary where Douglas Garland lived.

Garland, 57, is on trial on three counts of first-degree murder in the disappearance of Alvin and Kathy Liknes and their five-year-old grandson Nathan O’Brien, who was on a sleepover.

Blair, who has practised dentistry for 46 years, said he was given several packets of calcified material from a burning barrel and a fire pit on the farm, but only one item stood out.

“There was one sample that I found and it appeared to be a deciduous tooth,” said Blair. “Deciduous meaning a baby tooth … from the lower jaw.”

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Blair said that particular child’s tooth would normally appear at the 30-month mark and fall out at age 10.

The enamel crown of a tooth and two-thirds of a root found at the Liknes house the day after the disappearance also generated a result.

Blair said he was given the dental records of Alvin and Kathy Liknes in addition to photos of the couple.

“On that particular tooth, we’re talking upper-right central incisor, and with the photographs that I had, there is some consistencies with that tooth and the upper-right central incisor of Alvin Liknes,” Blair testified.

He would only say that it was “very likely” Alvin Liknes’s tooth.

Court also heard that Garland had a regular 8 a.m. appointment with a psychiatrist every Monday morning and on June 30, 2014, he was a half-hour late which, according to the receptionist, was unusual. She also said there was no sign of any injuries on Garland when he arrived.

The Likneses and Nathan were last seen June 29.

A forensic video analyst compared a number of close-circuit videos from homes, a restaurant and a dental office in an area near the Liknes home.

Kathy McCaw told jurors that on June 30 there were four sightings of a vehicle resembling the green Ford F-150 truck driven by Garland:  two near the Liknes home at 3:29 a.m. and 3:31 a.m. another nearby at 05:16 a.m. and another nearly three hours later.

McCaw pointed to what appeared to be a white tarp in the back of the truck at one point.

“I observed at 05:16 hours an unknown green pickup truck that appears to have contents in the truck box. I have an arrow pointing at a contrasting white something that’s in the back of the truck box,” she said.

The tarp was not visible in the next photo shown to the court.

The Crown has indicated it believes that Garland attacked the three victims in the Liknes’s home and then took them to his property where he killed them.

McCaw also did a comparison between the truck shown on the video with a vehicle seized by police from the Garland farm.

“The make, model and colour are consistent,” she said. “The wheels are consistent in colour and style.”

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Bill Graveland, The Canadian Press