Cold cases

The main problem with very cold cases (here the crimes are over 40 years old) is that the wrongdoer may well be long dead or unavailable. Any way of linking the crime to the criminal may be impossible to find. That said, the identification of the body brings some closure and sometimes a prosecution is possible.

Police link three unsolved murders over 40-year span Police say 1967 slaying of Eric Jones of Noelville, Ont., linked to two others years apart

National Post

Monday, Mar 9, 2009

TORONTO -- He was 18 when he was found slain in 1967 and on Monday Ontario Provincial Police put a name to the victim in the 42-year-old case. OPP used DNA testing and facial reconstruction to identify the skeletal remains discovered more than four decades ago as Eric Jones of Noelville, Ont.

OPP said the Centre of Forensic Sciences confirmed the identity of the mystery remains after family members of Mr. Jones learned of their investigation through a media report.

Mr. Jones was living in Toronto and was last seen in April 1967. His remains were found in December 1967 by a hunter in a wooded area of Balsam Lake provincial park near Coboconk, Ont.

Police said he was found naked with his hands bound by an three-metre length of twine. In 2006, police released facial reconstructions of Mr. Jones and of a second man found murdered near Schomberg, Ont. in 1968. He was also found unclothed, with his hands bound by shoelaces. Members of the public quickly identified the Schomberg victim as 17-year-old Richard Hovey of Fredericton, and DNA testing confirmed that finding.

Authorities have also linked the two murders with a third discovery of human remains near Markham, in 1980, citing numerous similarities between the victims and locations in which they were discovered.

All three cases had turned cold after initial probes, but were reactivated in 2006 when police decided to apply modern forensic techniques in the hopes of gleaning new leads.
James Morton