OTTAWA – Some cellphone users will be getting a couple of texts today as provincial police in Ontario unveil an innovative technique to identify potential witnesses in an ongoing homicide investigation.
The body of 65-year-old Frederick Hatch was discovered near Erin, Ont., on Dec. 17, 2015, and investigators have been searching for suspects ever since.
The investigation has determined that Hatch was last seen alive on Dec. 16, 2015, in Ottawa – in the area of West Hunt Club Road and Merivale Road – about 450 kilometres northeast of where his body was found.
Police say they’ve identified cellphone numbers that were in use in the area at the time Hatch was last seen and will send two text messages – one in English and one in French – to those phones today.
The message will ask recipients to visit a website and voluntarily answer a few simple questions to possibly help the OPP solve Hatch’s killing.
Police did not receive the names or any other contact information for the registered cellphone owners, but they’re hoping those who receive the message will respond.
“We believe this new investigative technique – a text message canvass to cellphone owners – will reach witnesses,” Det. Supt. Dave Truax said Wednesday in a release.
Det. Insp. Andy Raffay said the technique builds on the accepted practice of the door-to-door witness canvass.
“Texting is an evolution of this investigative technique that is unique, maybe unprecedented,” Truax said.
“It’s the most efficient way to contact these people quickly to either eliminate them as witnesses or learn whether they have any useful information,” he said.