Police genealogy team identifies U.K. man who died in Toronto more than 30 years ago

TORONTO — Toronto police say months of work by their genealogy team and investigators have unmasked a man who died in the city’s downtown more than 30 years ago.

Police say the story began in 1992, when emergency responders arrived at the lawn of a church in the area of Queen Street East and Church Street where a man had been found unresponsive.

Police say crews were unsuccessful in their attempts to revive the man, who wasn’t carrying identification at the time of his death.

The identity of the man, whose death was deemed not suspicious, remained a mystery until Toronto police say they selected the case for a genetic genealogy investigation in 2025.

Police say his DNA profile was uploaded to public databases in January, which helped investigators determine he was likely a man named Derek, who moved to Toronto from the United Kingdom in the 1970s.

The force says they were able to confirm Derek’s identity through fingerprint analysis and his family in the U.K. were notified.

Derek had been reported missing by his lawyer in 1993 but the case was mistakenly closed years later when police say investigators were informed that Derek had died.

Police say Derek is the 14th person to be identified through the force’s “Project 31,” which began in 2022 and was named for the 31 open police cases at the time of long-unidentified deceased people in the city.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 11, 2026.

The Canadian Press