Police north of Toronto closer to cracking decades-old cold case [Video]

For nearly 45 years, the identity of the human remains found along a rural road north of Toronto remained a mystery.

It was on July 16, 1980, when a Markham, Ont. resident made the discovery near a wooded area on Eleventh Concession, between 14th and Steeles avenues. Unbeknownst to them, the remains belonged to William Joseph Pennell, a convict who had escaped a Kingston prison a month earlier.

York Regional Police previously announced that investigators had identified the remains in 2023 after the case stayed cold for decades. They said that investigative genetic genealogy (IGG) held the key to linking the body to Pennell after investigators positively identified his relatives.

But how did they do it? CTV News Toronto spoke with Othram, a Texas-based forensics company that assisted police in making the identification, to learn more about the process.

Collecting evidence

Pennell’s remains were first exhumed in 2007 by cold case investigators in an …