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ONTARIO, Canada — Human remains found floating in a river in Canada in 1975 have been identified as a Tennessee businesswoman, according to officials.
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It says in a press release Ontario Provincial Police Department said that on May 3, 1975, the remains of a woman were found in the Nation River at a bridge near Highway 417 in Casselman, Ontario.
The woman was therefore known as the “Nation River Lady”. CNN.
In late 2019, a DNA profile of the remains was created and obtained by the Center of Forensic Sciences. police say. The DNA profile was submitted to a specialized laboratory in the United States. Genome sequencing was performed and samples were matched to two family members.
The following year, the woman was identified as Jewell “Lalla” Langford, 48, 47 years later. police She is believed to be the first case in Canada to be identified through forensic genealogy.
According to police, her remains were shipped to the United States for memorial and burial in March 2022 CNN.
According to the DNA Doe Project, Langford was strangled with a flat, plastic-coated television cable CNN. Her hands and ankles were bound with ties and her face was wrapped in a towel.
The DNA Doe Project is a non-profit organization working to identify John and Jane Does through genetic genealogy. Accordingly, they supported the police in Langford’s case CNN.
Langford was born in March 1927, police say.
Langford was a business owner in Jackson, Tennessee. She owned a spa with her ex-husband. police called. After traveling to Montréal in April 1975, she never returned home. Her family in Tennessee reported her missing.
“For 47 years, Jewell Langford’s family didn’t know where she was or if they would ever know what happened to her. With the advancement of science and technology over the years and the continuous collaboration of all investigating organizations, we were finally able to answer these questions. Our work is about finding the truth for families like Jewell’s and never giving up no matter how time goes by,” said Dr. Dirk Huyer, Chief Medical Examiner for Ontario in the press release.
Rodney Nichols, 81, was charged with her murder last year, the press release said per CNN. The two were known to each other, but their relationship could not be clarified by investigators.
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