Bird's eye view of bodies

There were tears in a Calgary courtroom Monday as the jury in a triple murder trial was shown aerial photos of three bodies lying near a burning barrel at the home of the suspect in the case.

Some jurors were visibly shocked by the images taken by an aerial photographer on July 1, 2014, which showed the bodies of two adults and a child from a distance. Members of the victim's families clung to each other for support in the public gallery.

The bodies of the two adults appeared naked except for some white material, which the Crown indicated in its opening statement were adult diapers. The body of the child was much less clear because of its size.

Justice David Gates immediately ordered a break after the images were shown.

"As I said to you at the beginning of the trial, some of this is difficult," Gates said.

Douglas Garland, 57, is charged with first-degree murder in the deaths of Alvin and Kathy Liknes and their five-year-old grandson Nathan O'Brien on June 30, 2014.

Photographer Paul Gagnon took the stand Monday and testified how he just happened to be over the Garland property taking survey photos when he captured the images of the bodies.

The survey planes, he said, are equipped with $1.5-million cameras, which take pictures every three seconds.

The bodies were lying in the grass next to a burning barrel that was giving off smoke.

"Each pixel that you see represents 10 centimetres on the ground. If I were to measure that body there you'll see total length of 1.9 metres," said Gagnon. "The other figure is approximately 1.7 metres."

Gagnon said the size of the child's body was more difficult to determine, but he put it at about 70 centimetres.

The photographer said another photo of the Garland farm was taken about 26 hours later on July 2.

The bodies were gone.

Garland, who has shown little emotion throughout the trial, was hunched over in the prisoner's box, closely watching a video screen of the evidence and taking notes.

The Crown alleges Garland killed the Likneses because of a long-standing grudge he had with Alvin over a patent on a pump for the oil and gas industry. Nathan happened to be at his grandparents' house for a sleepover on the night they disappeared.