Authorities have identified remains discovered on the U.S. side of Lake Ontario as those of a Niagara man who went missing 29 years ago.
Niagara Region Police commenced the investigation into the disappearance of a 33-year-old male who disappeared from the region in 1994. The remains were originally discovered in Lake Ontario near Olcott Harbour in New York State. A postmortem was conducted at the time, however, the remains were not positively identified and were subsequently buried as a "John Doe" in a Local U.S. Cemetery.
An additional review was conducted in late 2020, this time by the NRPS Missing Person and Unidentified Remains Coordinator, with new findings citing an excellent correlation between the missing male and the remains of John Doe.
In September 2023, judicial authorization was granted in the U.S. and exhumation took place in October 2023. John Doe was brought to Canada and an examination commence. On October 25th, 2023, John Doe was positively identified as being a match to the missing male from 1994. He has since been laid to rest and his name will not be released, per request from his family.