Over a year after a body was found on the water in southwestern Ontario, provincial police say enough information has been gathered to create a sketch that they hope will lead to an identification.
The man’s body was found at Crystal Beach in Colchester, south of Windsor on Lake Erie, on March 26, 2022.
“Once the body was recovered, it wasn’t in the best condition with decomposition,” Provincial Constable Steven Duguay with Essex OPP told Global News.
“(Investigators) had to kind of do some restructuring of the facial features. And then we had a sketch artist come in and work together with investigators to try to recreate what the deceased individual would look like.”
The man that police are hoping to identify is described as between 6’1″ and 6’5″ tall and 180 to 230 pounds. He had no teeth and black or brown curly hair and was wearing a long-sleeved navy blue shirt, blue jeans, a black “True Religion” belt, two pairs of socks and black work boots.
Because of extent of the decomposition, police told Global News they are unable to determine how old the man was except to confirm that he was an adult.
Police were also unable to say how long the man had been dead before he was found, with Duguay explaining that there are several factors that could impact the rate of decomposition, like the temperature of the water.
The cause of death has not been reported but police said the death is not believed to be suspicious.
“We’d like to put some closure on this for any family members that may be missing a loved one and they don’t know where they went or what happened,” Duguay said.
“Unfortunately, we do see this from time to time, and it could either be someone from Canada and oftentimes, too, it can be someone from across the river or across the lake in the United States.”
Anyone with information about who the man could be is asked to contact the Essex County OPP Crime Unit at 519-326-2544.
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