Northern Ont. police identify remains of 1986 murder victim; cold case featured in true crime podcast
CTV
Ontario Provincial Police say advances in DNA technology has allowed them to identify human remains discovered in the 1980s.
Ontario Provincial Police say advances in DNA technology has allowed them to identify human remains discovered in the 1980s.
The remains belong to Agnes May Appleyard, who was 71 when she disappeared April 29, 1986, from a property on Highway 520 in Emsdale.
At the time, the OPP conducted an extensive search of the property but found nothing. Then on April 17, 1987, another search of the property located human remains.
“The Office of the Chief Coroner and the Ontario Forensic Pathology Service examined the remains but were unable to determine the identity of the deceased person,” police said in a news release this week.
“In 1988, as a result of the investigation an 82-years-old male was arrested and charged with second degree murder. That individual, who is now deceased, was acquitted in court.”
The investigation was reopened Nov. 5, 2019, and the Ontario Forensic Pathology Service requested “familial DNA samples in effort to identify the remains,” police said.
“On April 12, 2023, advancement of DNA analysis technology at the Centre of Forensic Sciences provided confirmation of the identity of the remains as Agnes Appleyard.”
