In Canada, Toronto police on Monday (Jan 8) said that they have identified the killer, who is allegedly responsible for a decades-old Toronto murder using investigative genetic genealogy.
This technology is an emerging practice that uses genetic information from direct-to-consumer companies to identify suspects or victims in criminal cases. This technology has been used to solve cold cases across the world.
Kevin McBride, who was 47 at the time, was the victim of a homicide in May 1982. He died from multiple stab wounds inside his apartment at 311-5600 Sheppard Ave East.
At that time, police said that McBride died by multiple stab wounds in his apartment. He lived alone and “was not associated with any criminality”, the police had further added.
Police said that he was last seen on May 15, 1982, and two days after that his body was found. Police believed that he may have been killed the day he was last seen.
He had dinner plans with friends, but they said that they were unable to reach him and then they called the police, asking the authorities to check on McBride.
At the time of his death, the investigators said that his vehicle, a credit card, and other personal belongings had been stolen. They were used between May 15 and May 17 of that year.
The case remained closed. However, it was opened in 2016, when homicide case investigators tried to look for new evidence.
They again analysed seized items from the crime scene in the hope that “advancements in forensic testing and a DNA databank creation could determine any further leads”.
They got a breakthrough in 2022 when police said that tests revealed a male profile belonging to a man named William Taylor, who died last year in May.
DNA testing confirmed Taylor, who was 34 years old at the time of the crime, was the source of the unknown DNA left at the scene.
Police said that “if William Taylor was alive today, he would be arrested and charged with first-degree murder in the death of Kevin McBride”.
