Nathan O’Brien Amber Alert: Estate sales and safety

Of the head-scratching details surrounding the disappearance of five-year-old Nathan O’Brien and his grandparents, an estate sale held the day before the trio vanished from the Calgary house is possibly among the most compelling.

As many as 300 strangers likely wandered through the residence of Kathy and Alvin Liknes, as part of the estate sale throughout last weekend. Nathan, their grandson, slept over.

Now police want to interview all prospective buyers who visited the property.

No connection has yet been established between what appears to be a violent crime and the three-day event advertised online through the Kijiji classified network.

But the missing persons case could serve as a reminder of the dangers associated with online transactions and estate sales, especially as technology becomes more ubiquitous, said retired homicide detective James Jewell.

“These online venues didn’t exist 20 years ago, and so it’s becoming more prevalent that people are exposing themselves to danger,” the 26-year veteran of the Winnipeg Police Service said. “It’s obviously very disconcerting when people invite people into their homes, or have estate sales, or meet people through chatrooms online, or even internet dating.”

Violent home invasions following incidents in which perpetrators cased a residence have not been historically common in Canada, Jewell said. But he predicts “it's going to happen more and more as technology continues to evolve and people start using these websites more to meet people not known to them.”

The use of the classified website Kijiji is reminiscent of the case of Tim Bosma, an Ontario father who was slain last year after arranging to go on a test drive with two men who expressed interest in buying his truck. He had also posted an online ad to the classified service.

Following the reports of Bosma’s disappearance, Kijiji released a statement reminding users to beware of fraud and to meet in-person with interested buyers or sellers at crowded public places such as coffee shops.

Jewell worked more than 200 homicides during his years with the force. A vast majority of cold cases “come back to people being exposed to strangers,” he said.

Consumers who want to protect themselves when buying or selling items with strangers must be wary of “inviting strangers into their world,” he said, advising people to do their transactions in a neutral or public area instead.

B.C. real estate agent Lindsay Buziak was showing a million-dollar home to a couple in Greater Victoria by herself, police said, when she was stabbed to death in an upstairs bedroom six years ago.

Long before Jewell became a detective, he recalled his father discussing the still-unsolved 1979 murder of Irene Pearson, a real estate salesperson for Castlewood Homes. The woman’s body was found in the basement of a vacant home in northwest Winnipeg.

“My dad was a billing inspector for Castlewood Homes at the time,” he said. “That’s a case that really jumps out at me.”

Private investigator Dave Perry has worked on many child abduction probes, including the high-profile cases of Holly Jones and Cecilia Zhang, during his 28 years with the Toronto police. Although he has never encountered a kidnapping in which an estate or property sale advertised online was a motive, Perry said would-be thieves are increasingly gleaning information posted online by people detailing their vacation plans, or even combing through obituaries.

“It’s very common,” he said. “Families have a loved one who is just deceased, people are away and grieving, busy with the funeral, so people’s houses are broken into.”

It’s often wiser for anyone interested in advertising estate sales to have a third party set it up, too, he added.

“Use some of the profit to have a third party do it for you and keep you distant.”

Ryan Finlay, who makes his living buying and selling mostly electronic appliances over the online classified website Craigslist, estimates he has dropped in on dozens of estate sales in the past four years.

The Portland, Ore.-based entrepreneur offered a few safety considerations to people planning estate sales:

Finlay added that it’s important to keep some perspective, noting that he has completed some 6,000 Craigslist transactions without ever feeling like he was in danger.

Perry, the Toronto private investigator, stressed it’s important not to blame the victims in the Calgary case.

“Nobody in that scenario did something wrong,” he said.

These types of crimes are still rare enough that he’s cautious about pushing any kind of reactionary response.

“I’m not here to say people should stop using Kijiji or never have an estate sale but you need to practise some safety and common sense when you’re doing this kind of stuff,” Perry said.

“I still have the belief that when a crime is committed in Canada, it doesn’t mean we all of a sudden change our behaviour.”