Toronto police use genetic genealogy to ID man found dead in 1996
After nearly three decades, a man who was found dead in downtown Toronto in the summer of 1996 has been identified.
Toronto police announced on Wednesday that it has closed its cold case investigation into the man's death. They did not release his identity as they say no foul play is suspected.
The man's body was found in a field near Lake Shore Boulevard West and Spadina Avenue on Aug. 23, 1996. Police said his body had been at the field for some time and that he did not carry any identification or possessions.
'Initial attempts were made to identify the man by searching through local missing person cases, but no match was found. In recent years, his DNA was compared to the DNA of relatives in the National DNA Databank, but he remained unidentified,' police said.
Last year, police decided to use investigative genetic genealogy (IGG) after getting an approval from the coroner's office and the Ontario Forensic Pathology Service.
In recent years, police services have resorted to IGG to identify human remains and solve cold cases. It uses existing DNA data to create a family tree, which investigators would then use to locate potential relatives.
In this cold case, police found the man's distant relatives who traced their heritage to Quebec.
From there, investigators focused on one man from Quebec and in March, a DNA comparison with his relatives confirmed his identity, police said.
The Service de police de la Ville de Montréal then notified the man's family.
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Doiron said at dinner the night before, Joe joked to her that the horse had to get $24,000 at auction or she wouldn't get paid. Holding Hank Doiron said she had a contact at the horse sale who offered to remove Hank off the property, which she says was her only hope of being repaid for her expenses. 'My mom was always concerned about me letting Joe rack up the bills,' she said. 'She always said, 'as long as I have a horse of his here, I'm fine.'' 'I know what these horses are worth,' she said. 'They're worth way more than what he owes me, so I never have to worry, because if he doesn't pay never let a horse leave my property until I was paid. 'So I thought I was protected in that way,' she said. Doiron returned home and says Joe showed up, taking photographs and getting into a shouting match with her husband and her landlord. The police were called to the property a couple of times. After that, Doiron says she made a Facebook posting detailing her expenses. 'In my experience, whenever things have gone wrong with horse trainers and stuff, the best thing you can do is provide complete transparency,' she said. 'Post every single interaction and post all the messages you can because the truth is a valid defense.' 'Never once did they say, 'we'll pay you and come collect Hank,' she said. 'I had three other of their horses which they did collect, I allowed them to come get those horses -- but I said this one is worth money, I'm going to hold him until I get paid.' She denied the police report, which said she was preparing to sell Hank. 'I never planned it,' she said. 'I had no intentions of ever selling Hank.' Animal Keeper's Act Doiron says she applied for a lien under the Animal Keeper's Act and while the officer she dealt with said there was a lot of debate about it, ultimately her application was denied because it didn't fit the legal definition of the act. 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'That's gonna be my next step -- to look into what we need to do to get the ball rolling on this. 'I've never done anything like it,' she said, 'but obviously, the people who are enforcing the legislation and issuing the liens -- if they don't even completely understand it and they think it means what I think, and everybody commenting on these Facebook posts interprets it the same way, obviously it needs to be rewritten.' 'There needs to be some protection for the horse trainers as well,' she said. 'Not just the facilities that are boarding the animals.' Doiron is scheduled to appear in court in October. Rimbey RCMP is seeking assistance in locating Hank so he can be returned to his rightful owner. Anyone with information about Hank's whereabouts is encouraged to contact Rimbey RCMP or local police. Anonymous tips can be submitted through Crime Stoppers. With files from CTV Edmonton and the Canadian Press
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