Douglas Garland had book on how to dispose of dead bodies, triple-murder trial hears

On the same day triple-murder suspect Douglas Garland was arrested and photographed with injuries covering his body, officers were scouringthe farm where he lived andseizing a number of items prosecutors would later introduce as evidence.

Jurors were shown photos of Garland'sinjuries taken by Const. DavidBlackwood on July 5, 2014, six days after the disappearance of Nathan O'Brien, 5, and his grandparents, AlvinLiknes, 66, and KathyLiknes, 53, whose bodies have never been found.

Garland is being tried in Court of Queen's Bench in Calgary on three counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of the Liknes family members, who were last seen the night ofJune 29, 2014, when Nathan was having an impromptu sleepover at his grandparents' home.

On the same day as the arrest, dozens ofofficers led by Const. Ian Oxtondescended onthe farm where Garland, 56, lived with his parents and seized items the prosecution says are key pieces of evidence in the trial.

Items found in the Garland basement:

• Book - BeYour Own Undertaker:How to Dispose of a Dead Body.
• Book -Silent Death.
• Computer hard drive hidden in rafters.
• Whips.
• Straitjacket.
• 36 tubes of dental anesthetic.
• VHS tape dated 2014/07/07 and titled 'News, unsolved homicides."
• Tyvek suit almost identical to ones used by forensic examiners plus booties and facemasks.
• 8 pairs of women's shoes, size 13.
• 2 blonde women's wigs.
• Adult diaper +eBay receipt.

About 1,400 exhibits were seized as part of Operation Amber from theLikneshome, the Garland farm and the green truck driven by the accused.

Calgary police said that is the largest number of exhibits collected for a court case.

Earlier on Tuesday, Oxtontestified about other evidence collected from the Garland property where the Crown allegesthe accused disposed of the bodies including fromoutbuildings.

Among the items seized from the outbuildings andproperty:

• Several daggers.
• Two small items that appeared to be burnt flesh.
• Two meat hooks.
• Tazer cartridges.
• Firearms parts including magazines, a holster, spent cartridges, silencers.
• Two boxes of leather and cotton restraints.
• Metal ankle restraints.
• About a dozen sets of handcuffs.
• A box full of locks that had been cut, sheared and tampered with.
• Lock-picking equipment.

Earlier in the trial, prosecutors told jurors DNA from the missing family members were found on a saw and the two meat hooks found on the property.

The exhibits collected by Oxten were sent to labs for further testing. Other witnesses will give evidence about DNAresults later in the trial.

Garland was charged with murder on July 15, 2014, after amassive two-week search launched onJune 30, when Jennifer O'Brien arrived at her parents' home to pick up her son to find all three missing and bloodstains throughout the house.

Garland is connected to theLiknesfamily through his sister,Patti Garland, who was in a common-law relationship with AlvinLiknes'sson, Allen.

Patti Garland, her parents and AllenLiknes all testified earlier in the trial that Garland harboured a grudge against AlvinLiknesafter a business relationship soured years earlier.

DNA on farm

Inside theLikneshome, bloody footprints matchedthe shape and size of a pair of shoes missing from Douglas Garland's home, an expert testified last week.

On Monday, jurors heard evidence that a Calgary police cadaver dog gave signals he was onto the scent of human remains in several locations on the farm where Garland lived.

• Douglas Garland murder trial hears cadaver dog indicated human remains found in several spots on farm

When RCMP officers were dispatched to the farm onJuly 5, after Garlandbecame a person of interest in the investigation, a burn barrel was still smouldering on the property.

Bits of bone and a small tooth were found in the ashes.

Through what prosecutors Faulkner and Shane Parker have described as "dumb luck," a mapping plane that flew over the Garland property on July 1 and 2, 2014,took photographs that show what the Crown believes to be three bodies in the grass of two adults and a child.

Those photos have not yet been presented as evidence to jurors.

Lawyers Kim Ross and Jim Lutz are representing Garland and have not yet had the chance to cross-examine Oxton.

The trial is scheduled to last five weeks.

See the latest updates in live tweets from CBC reporters in the courtroom. On mobile?See theliveblog.