In a tight-knit Calgary community, where optimism has persisted for two weeks despite increasingly tough odds, hope was all but extinguished on Monday as police announced a trio of murder charges in the disappearance of a 5-year-old boy and his grandparents.

Police have not recovered the bodies of Nathan O’Brien and his grandparents, Kathryn and Alvin Liknes. But Chief Rick Hanson said a “preponderance of evidence” has “absolutely convinced” police to abandon any other outcome than the one most feared.

“Even as the days went by, there’s always a hope, there’s always a glimmer of hope,” Hanson said in a press conference. “And unfortunately, with the laying of the charges, we’ve taken that hope away from the family. So they are devastated.”

Hanson said a man from Airdrie, a community north of Calgary, was arrested early Monday and will be charged with two counts of first-degree murder and one count of second-degree murder. He said he could not confirm media reports that the accused is https://www.thestar.com/news/queenspark/2014/07/11/person_of_interest_gets_bail_in_case_of_missing_calgary_boy.html Douglas Garland END , 54, who lives on an Airdrie acreage and was questioned as a person of interest in the case, until charges are laid.

In an email to The Canadian Press, Teena Prevost, a sister-in-law of Kathryn Liknes, said her family will not believe the three are gone “until the police can show us the bodies of our loved ones.”

“Praying we will find them alive,” she said.

But in the Parkhill community, where https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2014/07/11/how_could_it_happen_here.html neighbours have held vigils END and tied green ribbons on their porches in hope for the family’s safe return, the tragic development has left little to cling to.

“We did have the same hope that perhaps the awareness that we were helping to bring forward was going to help,” said Shelley Bedford, spokeswoman for the Parkhill Stanley Park Community Association. “There’s not much we can do now to help them, other than (say) we’re sorry. We’re very upset. We’re shocked and distraught — the same as what they’re feeling.”

Neighbour Lorri Swinson, who started the green ribbon campaign, said the news has left her “numb.” Unable to watch the news, she has not yet taken in the details of the outcome that she had felt was coming, but had tried hard to suppress.

“Under circumstances that are just so tragic, one just wants to have hope,” she said, “because without that, what do we have?”

Hanson said the man arrested early Monday morning would face second-degree murder charges in the death of the boy, and first-degree murder charges in the deaths of his grandparents.

He would not discuss the details of the evidence investigators had recovered, which, as he bluntly put it on Monday, “absolutely convinced all of us that the family was dead.”

But police have said previously that there were signs of violence in the Liknes home — drag marks, dark stains on the driveway — when Jennifer O’Brien arrived to pick up her son.

The 5-year-old had slept over at his grandparents’ home on June 29 after helping out at an estate sale.

Kathryn and Alvin Liknes were downsizing. They had sold their home, and had planned to split their time between Edmonton and Mexico.

In the wake of the family’s mysterious disappearance, police quickly focused their attention on Garland, who was questioned on unrelated identity theft charges, and was released on Friday.

Garland’s sister is in a relationship with a member of the Liknes family. According to CBC, he had a https://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2014/07/10/calgary_police_probe_business_dealings_in_missing_boy_case.html dispute with Alvin Liknes END over a patent for a gas device.

Alvin Liknes was reportedly forced to close Winter Petroleum Ltd., one of several oil and gas companies he was involved in, several weeks ago.

Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading...

Police earlier said they were looking into whether there was a business connection to the missing persons file.

Garland was sentenced in 2000 to 39 months in jail for making amphetamines at his parents’ farm. Court documents show Garland has a criminal record and mental health issues.

The Parole Board of Canada gave him accelerated release after six months. In its decision, the board said Garland’s prior criminal record consisted of various property offences over the course of 20 years.

His mental health played a role in the crimes, the board said, but a psychologist determined that Garland had “little violence potential to others.” It ordered a psychologist and psychiatrist to closely monitor him during his release.

The case has captivated the country. Prime Minister Stephen Harper took to Twitter to express his condolences on Monday.

“Our thoughts and prayers are with the O’Brien and Liknes families during this time,” he said.

Hanson said the investigators will continue their search, which has already led police to search landfill sites, ponds and fields in Airdrie, and urged acreage owners and oil companies to continue to survey their properties.

Meanwhile, in Parkhill, following the police announcement, flowers began to pile up on the front lawn in front of the Liknes home. There were candles, and a note that read, “I believe.”

Swinson said she expects residents will continue to display their green ribbons.

“We wanted to do it to show support to the family, so it’s just as important now as ever,” she said.

With files from The Canadian Press and Paul Hunter

Read more about: