It’s been a year since 69-year-old New Brunswick businessman Richard Oland was found killed in his Saint John office and still no one has been arrested.

Saint John police don’t want to talk about it, the Crown’s office doesn’t want to release details of the search warrants and the public is none the wiser as to what happened.

Given that Oland family name carries a great deal of cache in the maritime province, there is a healthy appetite for any details, including why the investigation focused on his Oland’s son Dennis in the weeks following the discovery of the businessman’s bludgeoned body — possibly with an axe — on July 7, 2011.

An internationally known sailor, Richard Oland was a member of the family that owns Moosehead Breweries Ltd. At one time he worked for the brewery, but left the company in 1981.

“It’s still a matter of vigorous discussion. This is a rather prominent citizen in a relatively small community. This is a horrendous crime so I think there is a tremendous public interest in it,” said lawyer David Coles, who is representing CBC News and the Telegraph Journal in their so far unsuccessful attempts to unseal search warrants related to the case.

“No one has been charged yet, so you have to wonder what’s going on,” he told the Star Thursday.

Another hearing related to the media organizations’ attempts obtain the search warrants is scheduled for July 31.

Nothing about the case has been straight forward, including the police department’s steadfast refusal to discuss the case in any detail and the court’s ongoing refusal to allow the public a peak at what — if anything — the police were looking for when officers searched Dennis Oland’s home on July 14, a nearby wooded area by the Bill McGuire Community Centre on July 15, and a sailboat co-owned by Dennis Oland’s wife, Lisa Oland, on July 21.

“What is unusual about this case is when the police first went to get their search warrants, at that same time they applied and obtained a sealing order even though they hadn’t seized anything, so the file from the very get go has been confidential,” Coles said, explaining that it is unusual for a search warrant to be kept under wraps for this long.

In March, police chief Bill Reid told reporters his department had not provided the public with any updates in its investigation because it was waiting for lab results. It’s not known if the department is still waiting the results from the third party laboratory.

Coles made the original application to unseal the search warrants and after the matter was heard in camera, the judge ruled that they would remain sealed for another six months. When it was revisited last month, Provincial Court Chief Judge R. Leslie Jackson ruled he would not grant an extension without hearing new evidence.

The Crown has argued the documents contain “hallmark” forensic evidence that only the person or persons responsible for Oland’s death would know and releasing the details could jeopardize the investigation.

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