Police have recognized a person whose cranium was discovered nearly 40 years in the past in a Peterborough-area river.
In a launch, police mentioned the human stays are these of Gerald Durocher, who would have been 38 years outdated on the time of his dying.
Leisure divers situated the person’s cranium about 130 toes from shore on July 10, 1988, within the Otonabee River close to Lock and McKeller streets in Peterborough.
On the time, after they performed a autopsy examination, police mentioned they may solely decide the cranium belonged to a person and that he was a sufferer of murder.
Although officers mentioned they extensively searched underwater and within the air for the rest of his physique, it was by no means recovered.
Simply over three years in the past, Peterborough Police Service (PPS) mentioned they submitted proof to Othram – a Texas-based lab that leverages forensic family tree to unravel chilly circumstances – and the Ontario Forensic Pathology Service, hoping superior testing might present new leads and assist determine the “Otonabee River Man.”
An aerial view of the Otonabee River in 1988. (Peterborough Police Service)
Othram scientists constructed a “complete DNA profile” that was then utilized by genealogists to determine any potential relations. From there, police mentioned they used that data to search out and interview these individuals.
“It was via this course of, in addition to subsequent confirmatory DNA testing by the Ontario Forensic Pathology Service that led to the optimistic identification of the sufferer,” PPS mentioned in a launch.
The service added that the case “has by no means been forgotten,” including they’ve tried varied strategies over the past 36 years to determine the sufferer’s stays.
Police mentioned they’re at the moment taking a look at “all avenues” to additional their investigation.
“Though we have now discovered that Gerald was residing within the Ottawa space, we all know that he lived a life-style that noticed him go to many locations,” they mentioned in a YouTube video.
“Gerald had connections all through the province of Ontario, and within the months main as much as his dying, he’s believed to have frequented the Vendome Lodge, which is situated on the intersection of Somerset and Rochester streets in Ottawa.”
Peterborough Police mentioned Durocher frequented the Vendome Lodge in Ottawa forward of his dying. (Peterborough Police Service)
Investigators mentioned Durocher additionally had ties to cities outdoors of the province, together with central B.C.
Police are asking anybody with details about Durocher, or his dying, to come back ahead as they are saying “even the small particulars can play a big half in fixing a case.”
Anybody with data can name 705-876-1122, ext. 266, or Crime Stoppers anonymously.
Crime Stoppers says it’s providing a $5,000 reward for anybody who has data resulting in an arrest on this case.
