http://dailygleaner.canadaeast.com/front/article/1425729Yacht club | Port city police remain silent on detailsA1By MARK IYPE
Canadaeast News Service
SAINT JOHN - A sailboat docked at the Royal Kennebeccasis Yacht Club and listed as belonging to the daughter-in-law of slain Saint John businessman Richard (Dick) Oland was searched by police Thursday, says a club member who witnessed the investigation.
Police officers spent several hours rummaging through the greyish-green boat named Loki as police divers were seen swimming through the murky waters surrounding the marina, said club member Ken Ward.
"They were on board for quite a while," said Ward.
"But I have no idea if they found anything."
According to a 2010 yacht club directory, the boat belongs to Lisa Ferguson, the wife of Oland's son Dennis.
In keeping with the silence surrounding the high-profile case, police wouldn't confirm whether the search was related to the investigation into Oland's death or if they have any suspects.
Police spokesman Sgt. Glenn Hayward would only say the search was part of "an ongoing major investigation."
Ward said police locked the gates to the Millidgeville yacht club at around 9 a.m., allowing only members onto the property for the next six hours.
He said divers searched under most of the boats in the marina, something he described as a difficult task, given the size of the yacht club, which holds almost 200 vessels.
"It's pretty mucky down there," Ward said.
"Be almost impossible to find anything, especially if they don't know what they're looking for."
It isn't known if police were searching for a specific item.
Ward said police concentrated their search on Ferguson's boat.
A week ago, members of the major crime unit, along with a canine team, searched Dennis Oland's home, spending all day on the large estate located around the corner from his father's house.
About 20 officers spent more than eight hours on the property, which has been in the Oland family for generations and is where Dennis Oland lives with his own family.
The following day, police searched a wooded area just down the road from the Oland homestead.
Then, as on Thursday, police refused to say if they were investigating the death of the Dick Oland.
Oland, 69, a member of the famed Moosehead beer-brewing family, was found dead in his office July 7.
The police department has kept mum, saying only that Oland likely knew his killer and that it wasn't a random act or suicide.
Police haven't released the cause of death.
Few details have emerged about the homicide of a man lauded by many as a successful entrepreneur, community leader and officer of the Order of Canada.
Oland ran Far End Corp., a personal investment holding company, and Kingshurst Estates, a property-rental company, from his uptown office where he was killed.
Those were just the latest businesses run by the Moosehead scion since he left the family-owned brewery in 1981.
However, over the past decade, Oland spent less time concentrating on his business interests and more on his lifelong passion for sailing.
With files from April Cunningham
