WATCH ABOVE: Bret McCann, whose elderly parents disappeared four years ago, is following the case of the missing Calgary family closely and hopes it ends well. Su-Ling Goh reports.
EDMONTON – Bret McCann, whose elderly parents disappeared four years ago, has been following the Calgary case very closely and thinks of the family often.
“It really hit us,” he told Global News on Tuesday. “I was just thinking about – especially the mother – dropping the boy off and the next day nobody’s there. Terrible.”
Timeline: Missing Calgary family Nathan O’Brien, Alvin and Kathryn Liknes
Five-year-old Nathan O’Brien and his grandparents Alvin and Kathryn Liknes haven’t been seen since June 30, when Nathan’s mother dropped him off at their Parkhill home for a sleepover. Police later confirmed a violent incident took place at the residence.
READ MORE: Calgary police update search for missing family
McCann has noticed disturbing similarities in this case to his parents’.
“The total uncaring for harmless, innocent people, like my parents, or these grandparents or this little boy.”
His parents, Lyle, 78, and Marie, 77, were last seen on the morning of July 3, 2010, buying gas at a local station. Two days later, their motorhome was found engulfed in flames near a Minnow Lake campground southeast of Edson, but the bodies of the elderly St. Albert couple were never found.
“I don’t know how I could help this family, but maybe just words of encouragement, but I don’t know, they’re in a very difficult space right now,” he said.
McCann explained, shortly after his parents’ disappearance, a woman whose mother was missing contacted him and offered to listen if he ever wanted to talk.
Now, he’s thinking about getting in touch with the O’Brien and Liknes family.
“I think I could just offer them an ear and some advice from somebody who’s been there.”
“I guess I would say… if they ever did want to talk to me, feel free, and I may have some ideas – if it gets to that stage – things they can do to keep this in the public eye.”
McCann, along with support from the St. Albert community, has come up with a $60,000 reward for any information regarding his parents. It is being coordinated through Crime Stoppers.
They’ve also put up posters and signs around Alberta.
“Within a few days it was just shock and grief,” said McCann.
“My parents were in their late seventies… Just imagining someone doing harm to them preoccupied me,” he said.
“Now, we’ve accepted it, but we need to know what happened, that’s what drives us now.
“We’re still hoping, four years later, that somebody will see something or somebody will remember something.”
He says time can help a lot of things.
However, he – sadly – can relate to what the O’Brien and Liknes families are going through.
“If the family in Calgary happens to see this, please know that we’re following this very closely, we care deeply, and we really hope this turns out well.”
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