Decades-long mystery of Algonquin Park body solved using DNA technique

Ontario Provincial police force (OPP) say they've eventually figured come out whose remains were found close a shack in Algonquin Park decades ago by using DNA to track down family members.

The latest use by police of what's known as investigative genetic genealogy traced remains found in April 1980 near the park's Hardwood Lake Trail to Eric Singer from Cleveland, Ohio, who was last seen at his parents' house in October 1973.

"I'm honoured, I'm humbled, I'm grateful," said Singer's younger sister Merry in an OPP news release. (Police did not provide surnames for Singer's surviving family members.)

"He was identified and we were able to put him to rest, and put ourselves to rest."

The first stages of what would turn into an investigation spanning 45 years turned up camping gear, some clothing and more remains near the scene northeast of Haliburton.

At the time, police determined the body belonged to a white man around the age of 20. They did not suspect foul play in his death, which they deduced had occurred within two years of the discovery.

Police called for the public's help and pored over missing persons reports, but were unable to identify the man.

In 1995 a jawbone was found near the site, and police released images of a forensic facial reconstruction in 2017, but the break came in 2019 when the OPP began using a new investigative technique.

Investigative genetic genealogy involves matching DNA from a crime scene or unidentified body to DNA in voluntary public databases, allowing experts to build a potential family tree.

The same method was used to help identify a body found in the Nation River in 1975, and to find a suspect in a fatal 1996 stabbing on a bridge between Ottawa and Gatineau.

In Singer's case, OPP turned to the non-profit DNA Doe Project in 2022, leading to a confirmation the following year.

"On Sept. 19, 2023, I was contacted by an unidentified caller," said Ruth, another sister quoted in the OPP's account of the investigation.

"He said he had some difficult news for me and asked whether I had time to listen. Immediately, my tears began to fall and I knew that they had found him."

Singer's identity was confirmed in February.

Merry said her brother Eric, who also went by Ricky, talked about going to Canada after receiving his draft card during the Vietnam War. He was never drafted, but did travel to Canada. At 22, he left with a backpack and never returned.

His sisters described him as carefree, guitar-playing child of the 60s.

The OPP said earlier this summer, Singer's sisters visited the area where his remains were found.

"Eric Singer's remains were found before I was even born. The fact that I'm involved in supporting his family in understanding what happened to him feels a little surreal," said lead investigator Det. Sgt. Philip Holmes in an OPP news release.

"After years of uncertainty, a family now has the answers they've been longing for," said acting senior Det. Insp. Sean Chatland of the OPP's criminal investigations branch. "Innovative tools such as investigative genetic genealogy are rewriting the possibilities for investigation."

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