A cold case of a missing man has been solved through the use of DNA profiling on remains found on Saturna Island in the 1970s.
BC RCMP say that the remains have been identified as a man who was reported missing from the BC Interior and was last seen in Coquitlam on May 27th, 1967.
The 41-year-old man’s family reported his disappearance to local police in Kamloops, and the investigation has spanned over five decades.
Unidentified human remains were discovered on August 20th, 1972 on a beach on Saturna Island. An autopsy of the remains was unable to establish identity.
With the case gone cold, the remains were buried on Salt Spring Island, until their exhumation in September 2020.
An investigation conducted in partnership between the RCMP’s Special Investigations Unit and the BC Coroners Service produced a DNA profile of the deceased man.
Familial DNA was obtained for comparison from the missing man’s daughter in 2014, as part of a historical missing person file review that year.
“Through scientific advancements in identification processes, we are now able to solve such historic cases,” said Eric Petit, Director of the BC Coroners Service Special Investigations Unit.
“Through collaboration, we are able to work as one team with the ultimate goal to provide families the closure they had been seeking for more than fifty years.”
The RCMP extended their condolences to the man’s family, who thanked the RCMP and the coroners for their help bringing the case to a close while asking for privacy and anonymity.
