Cold case: OPP identify human remains found in 1987

EMSDALE, Ont. — The Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) has concluded its investigation into a missing person from 1986.

On April 29, 1986, members of the Almaguin Highlands Detachment of the OPP, then known as the Burks Falls OPP, received a report that Agnes May Appleyard, 71 years of age at the time, was missing from a property on Highway 520, in Emsdale.

Members of the OPP Emergency Response Team (ERT), OPP Canine Unit and OPP Aviation Service conducted an intensive search of the property which found no trace of the missing person. On April 17, 1987, another search of the property located human remains. 

The Office of the Chief Coroner and the Ontario Forensic Pathology Service examined the remains but were unable to determine the identity of the deceased person.

In 1988, as a result of the investigation, an 82-year-old male was arrested and charged with second-degree murder. That individual was acquitted in court and is now deceased.

On November 5, 2019, the Almaguin Highlands OPP Crime Unit, under the direction of the OPP Criminal Investigation Branch, reopened the investigation. The Ontario Forensic Pathology Service requested familial DNA samples in an effort to identify the remains.

On April 12, 2023, thanks to the advancement of DNA analysis technology available at the Centre of Forensic Sciences, further testing confirmed the identity of the remains as Agnes Appleyard.