CALGARY — Calgary police have moved to a second garbage dump as they continue their search for a missing boy and his grandparents.
Police say the searching of landfills for evidence is routine in missing persons cases like this.
Five-year-old Nathan O’Brien and his grandparents Kathryn and Alvin Liknes haven’t been seen since June 29 after what police say was a violent incident in the Liknes home.
On Wednesday, a team of seven officers searched the Spyhill dump northwest of the city and now officers are at a dump in the east end.
A man police call a person of interest in the case, Douglas Garland, remains in custody on unrelated charges and officers continue to look for clues in the area around his family’s property north of Calgary.
Police have renewed a call for rural property owners to check their land for anything that might help in their investigation.
Nathan and his grandparents were last seen following an estate sale at the couple’s home. The couple were downsizing ahead of a move to a home in Edmonton and then on to Mexico.
Police have maintained they still hope to find the three alive.
Court records show Garland has a criminal past and mental problems.
Police have confirmed his sister is in a relationship with a member of the Liknes family.
In 2000, he was sentenced to 39 months in prison for making amphetamines at his parents’ farm.
Garland is being held on unrelated identity theft charges, but could be released as early as Friday when he is next scheduled to be in court.