Digital forensic experts testify about computer hard drive stashed in Garland home

Police say they found a hard drive hidden in one of the compartments in the open ceiling of the furnace room of the Garland home.

The third week of the Garland triple murder trial began with testimony from a Calgary police officer who investigated a hard drive stashed in the ceiling of one of the rooms at the Garland farm.

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 five-year-old grandson Nathan O’Brien in 2014.

The hard drive was found stashed in the rafters of the furnace room at the Garland home and handed over to the CPS Technological Crimes Unit for analysis.

Detective Scott Guterson, a member of the CPS Homicide Unit, took the stand on Monday and said that he was first called to search the Garland home on July 5, 2014. He said he was tasked with trying to find bloody clothing or bedding, wallets, keys or anything else belonging to the victims.

He told the court that a number of financial documents bearing the name Matthew Hartley were uncovered and that a hard drive was found hidden in the ceiling of the Garlands' furnace room.

He also went to Mexico to look into a condo that was owned by the Liknes' and learned that the property had not been accessed by the couple since January of 2014.

Calgary police Cst. Oleg Seleznov, a digital forensic investigator, was called to the stand next and told the court that he attended the home on July 5, 2014 and was directed to where a number of computers had been set up. He said there were three found in the home; one in the developed basement and two in an office area.

Seleznov told the court that he found emails between Alvin Likens and Garland that were sent around 2007 and that someone used Google to search the term 'Alvin Liknes' but he could not determine when that search took place.

He said that the computer was last used in March of 2013 and that it was not password protected.

Cst. Doug Kraan, also a digital forensic investigator, testified on Monday afternoon and said the hard drive was 200 gigabytes and that it had a default user account.

He said that there was an 'impact' folder on the drive related to impact-type weapons and another folder titled "lock picking' that included details on lock picking, security systems, alarms and restraints.

A user manual for Schlage BE365 locks, the same lock that was on the Liknes' door, was also located on the hard drive and police say that the file was last accessed between June 22 and 24, 2014.

Kraan continued his testimony and said that there were photos and videos on lock picking, finger printing and adult diapers on the drive.

He said there were also folders called 'patents', 'Liknes', and 'gore' on the hard drive and that there were also two documents on DNA removal.

The justice in the case addressed the jury during the testimony and said that the evidence presented was not to be used to judge whether Garland was a bad person but to decide issues like identity, intent, planning and deliberation.

Kraan will continue his testimony on what was found on the hard drive on Tuesday.

The trial is in its third week and is scheduled to last five weeks.