A new website maps about 200 unidentified human remains across British Columbia, including seven in the Tri-Cities between 1970 and 2013.
The BC Coroners Service unveiled the interactive map with hopes that the public would come forward with new clues to solve some of the province's most intractable cases.
The discovery of the unidentified human remains date back as far as 1953, many of them cold cases where all leads have run dry.
Each case is plotted on the map with the police case number and a varying level of clues as to who the person was.
Click on one of the markers and you’ll see details of the human remains, including date found, police case number, detachment involved, hair colour, as well as minimum and maximum age and height.
“As far as we know, it’s the first of its kind in Canada,” said BC Coroners Service spokesperson Andy Watson.
Zoom in on the Tri-Cities and you’ll find the earliest unidentified remains were found on May 3, 1970 in the southwest corner of Mundy Park near the corner of Hickey Street and Haversley Avenue. The body was a “person of a heavier stature,” six-feet-tall and between 30- and 40-years-old.
Slide southeast and you’ll find a blue marker where the body of a male caucasian was pulled from the Pitt River wearing a wool sweater on April 30, 1972.
Head north and you’ll find more blue markers spread out across Oxford Heights, Sasamat Lake, the waters off Reed Point, as well as two more around Anmore, including one male found with a black Romantics t-shirt from the band’s 1983 'In Heat' tour.
“By reaching out and engaging members of the public with the launch of this innovative tool, it’s our hope to gain new investigative leads that will lead to the identification of these unidentified individuals and bring closure to their families,” said chief coroner Lisa Lapointe.
Anyone with information or questions about any of the investigations displayed on the UHR interactive viewer should contact the Special Investigations Unit using the case number provided in the viewer at: BCCS.SIU@gov.bc.ca
