Coquitlam RCMP are renewing a call for information that could help them solve a 22-year-old cold case in which a man’s body was discovered in a heavily wooded area near the Port Coquitlam Cemetery.
And the big question to be answered is: Who is he?
The case is part of an international collaboration to breathe new life into more than a dozen B.C. cold cases — including two in the Tri-Cities.
Last year, the BC Coroners Service released 14 skull reconstructions recreated through 3D printing and the artistic talent of students at the New York Academy of Art.
Coquitlam RCMP Cpl. Michael McLaughlin said the original drawing made of the unidentified Port Coquitlam man in 1998 was made difficult because the body had been found somewhere between two and 10 years after the man’s death.
The 3D reconstructions worked to provide better approximations of what the man looked like.
“The jaw, nose and mouth of this man are very different from the sketch. We’re hoping the update will help trigger someone’s memory and get this man back to his family,” McLaughlin said in a press release.
The man is estimated to measure between five feet six inches and five feet 10 inches tall, and was found wearing a red cotton shirt and blue jeans.
He is thought to have been 35 and 49 years old when he died, was found to have a previously broken nose that healed crooked and a missing upper front tooth, and displayed signs of having had Osgood Schlatter disease, a condition commonly developed in young people who play sports and evident as a bump on the shin below this man’s left knee.
Anyone who has information that may help identify the man is asked to contact either the Coquitlam RCMP non-emergency number at 604-945-1550 or the BC Coroners Service’s Special Investigations Unit at 1-877-660-5077 ([email protected]).
If you wish to remain anonymous, you can call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477 (TIPS).
