A missing Niagara man has been located, nearly three decades after he went missing.
In 1994, Niagara Regional Police investigated the disappearance of a 33-year-old man, however he was never found. Later in 1994, unidentified remains were found in Lake Ontario near New York State, but they were buried in the US as ‘John Doe’.
In 2018, OPP went through a standard analysis in an attempt to identify potential unidentified remains. In late 2020, the matter was assigned for further investigation to the NRPS Missing Person and Unidentified Remains Coordinator, who commenced a review of the files on both sides of the border. Based on the totality of the investigation, family DNA was sought for entry to Canada’s National Missing Persons DNA Program, which is managed by the RCMP, for comparison purposes. An additional review of the dental records was completed by a Forensic Dentist with the aid of DIP, a computerized dental comparison program. The review noted an excellent correlation between the missing male and that of John Doe.
Last year, the man’s body was brought back to Ontario for examination, and later found to be a match with the missing man from Niagara.
He has since been laid to rest in the Niagara Region, while his name has been kept anonymous at the request of his family.
