More than 30 years after an unknown man drowned in Lake Ontario, Toronto police say they have determined his identity using advanced forensic DNA analysis, part of a citywide project to pinpoint the identities of 31 deceased people.
On Tuesday, the Toronto Police Service announced they had identified the man, giving his first name, Kevin. They declined to release his last name because his family had requested privacy.
He was originally from Saskatchewan, police said, and he was 32 at the time of his death. His body, which was found in Toronto Harbour on July 27, 1992, had no obvious signs of violent injury, and his death was not deemed suspicious.
Kevin is the 10th person identified as part of Project 31, which Toronto police said they started in 2022 to identify 31 long-term deceased people for whom DNA material is readily available. None of the cases solved thus far are believed to have involved foul play, but five of the 31 total are considered suspicious deaths, according to TPS spokesperson Viktor Sarudi.
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Investigators used a technique called investigative genetic genealogy (IGG), which determines genetic matches to biological relatives by comparing genetic data from crime scenes with publicly available DNA databases. Investigators in Toronto and elsewhere in Canada have used the tool to solve decades-old crimes and missing-person cases, while privacy watchdogs have called for guardrails around its use.
Police said they solved 10 of the Project 31 cases after the coroner’s office uploaded DNA profiles for each unidentified deceased person onto the National DNA Data Bank. The RCMP database holds more than half a million DNA profiles and helps to identify human remains and solve crimes by comparing profiles from missing-person cases across Canada.
IGG was used in six of the Project 31 cases that police have solved. In the case of Kevin, police turned to the technique – which can identify genetic relations – after finding no other potential leads. Within five days of uploading the unknown man’s DNA profile to public-facing databases in January, 2026, police determined it could be Kevin.
Investigators confirmed Kevin’s identity on March 9, after obtaining a DNA sample from a close relative in Western Canada. While Kevin was not reported missing, his family “long feared what had happened to him as they had not heard from him in years,” according to a Toronto Police press release.
Before Kevin’s case was selected for IGG, Mr. Sarudi said, police attempted to identify him using “case analysis and DNA comparison.”
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Othram, a Texas-based company that partnered with Toronto police to solve the case, said Kevin likely died weeks or months before being found in the harbour wearing two T-shirts, two pairs of jeans and two leather jackets, which police confirmed to The Globe and Mail.
Police also collaborated with the Ontario Forensic Pathology Service and the Centre of Forensic Sciences.
Othram founder and chief executive officer David Mittelman said his company, which uses forensic DNA analysis to solve cold cases, started working with the TPS in 2019. The company previously partnered with the force in 2022 to identify an alleged serial killer who is suspected of killing three women in the 1980s and 90s.
According to Othram’s website, the company has worked on cases in Alberta, Ontario, Saskatchewan, Newfoundland and Labrador, Yukon and the Northwest Territories.
The investigation into Kevin’s identity was funded with a $2.5-million grant from the Ontario Ministry of the Solicitor-General, according to ministry spokesperson Saddam Khussain. The grant is specifically intended to support IGG projects, including homicide, sexual assault and unidentified human-remains cases.
Investigators have yet to identify 21 deceased people from Project 31. Toronto police “expect there to be more announcements in the weeks and months ahead,” Mr. Sarudi said.