SAINT JOHN, N.B. – Search warrant documents say police probing the homicide of Saint John businessman Richard Oland believe there was a financial motive behind his death.

A judge released portions of search warrants and supporting documents used in the investigation today in Saint John.

Among the dozens and dozens of documents and warrants is an admission police have a suspect in Oland’s murder.

That person’s name is protected by a publication ban.

But the documents say the person was seen visiting Richard Oland on July 6th, 2011 – one day before the businessman’s body was found in his Canterbury Street office.

They say that person owed Oland more than half-a-million dollars.

The documents also say the owner of the building where Oland worked heard six or seven “pounding thumps” coming from above him as he was working directly below Oland’s office on July 6th.

The documents appear to focus on Oland’s strained personal relationships, as well as his financial dealings.

In the search warrants, Oland’s wife Constance described her husband of 46 years as “controlling.”

He was also verbally and emotionally abusive, she told police, not the same man after he left Moosehead Breweries back in the 1980s.

The documents also show Oland maintained an eight-year affair with a local real estate agent, and that Constance found out about her husband’s death when the mistress called on July 7th to find out why police were at his office.

She told police it was not uncommon for her husband not to return to their residence at night.

The documents do not say how Oland, 69, died or whether any weapon was involved.

The condition of Oland’s body and other prominent details of the case remain under court protection.