Genetic genealogy helps Toronto police identify man found dead in 1992 - Global News

Police in Toronto have identified the remains of a man who was found dead 34 years ago as part of a project using investigative genetic genealogy.

First responders were called to the area of Queen and Church streets on Sept. 15, 1992 to a report of an unresponsive man on the lawn of a church.

According to Toronto police, crews were unable to revive him and his cause of death was not considered suspicious.

However, the man did not have any identification and investigators at the time were unable to identify him.

“They did the things they did at the time, which was check for existing missing persons reports, check his fingerprints and none of them came back to anybody and the case kind of went cold,” said Det. Const. Mike Kelly.

More than three decades later, his case was selected for investigation using genetic genealogy, and a DNA profile for him was uploaded to public-facing databases on Jan. 8, 2026.

The man’s closest matches were very distant, according to police, but it suggested he was from the United Kingdom.

It was determined he was likely a man named Derek, who was 55 at the time of his death. He had moved to Toronto from the U.K. in the 1970s and lived alone at an apartment building near Carlton and Jarvis streets.

“He had actually, in fact, been reported missing in December of 1993. His lawyer had reported him missing after he had missed some payments in relation to his condo fees,” said Kelly.

However, the connection wasn’t made between the two cases, in part, because Derek had been reported deceased by mistake.

“There’s a process that can begin, I believe, after seven years after the person is last seen that somebody can be declared legally dead,” said Kelly.

“And that’s apparently what happened in this case.”

Police say Derek’s family in the U.K. have been notified. His siblings have passed away but a nephew told police that the composite image of the person found in 1992 looks just like his uncle.

“Being able to bring these answers to families and also to the human beings that we’re able to identify as well … everybody deserves the dignity of their name,” said Kelly.

Derek is the 14th person identified through an initiative called ‘Project 31,’ which began in the summer of 2022. It was named after the 31 open Toronto Police Service cases involving long-term unidentified deceased people for whom DNA material is readily available.

Last year, a man from Portugal named Alcides was identified as the unknown deceased man in a 2008 case.