Hamilton John Doe was found floating in Hamilton Bay near the Skyway Bridge and Queen Elizabeth Way in 1978. He is thought to have been in the water for months to years.
The remains had been fully clothed upon discovery. Information regarding the circumstances is otherwise not well known, and is currently under further in-depth investigation.
2019 developments
In 2019, a tip was submitted to NCMPUR that a possible match exists between the decedent and Mario Palermo, who was a missing man from Welland, and whose last actual known physical location was with his best friend in the city of Hamilton, Ontario on November 30, 1977.
Despite original news claiming DNA belonging to this decedent had been entered to the DNA Databank by law enforcement, it turns out that the man's remains had previously been cremated long before DNA could be extracted, so this type of analysis remains unavailable. The only current means of identification at this time fall under dental comparison only, as well as digital records of the skeletal characteristics.
As of August 2019, it has been confirmed that the decedent's dental charts and related information have been uploaded to the RCMP's Database successfully, as well as detailed reports created by the medical examiner for this case. The dental records have been compared to those of the likely identity match, Mario. The analysis yielded the revelation that Mario's case was, in fact, not a match. The medical examiner also carefully explained to authorities and family that the decedent's skeleton clearly revealed that the subject had certainly looked to be much older than Mario (who was 23 years old at the time of his disappearance, and relatively, 24 years of age at the time that the remains were discovered), and that the man had been well-into middle age. As a result, the then-possible match has been ruled out since September 23, 2019, and has officially been confirmed by law enforcement to definitely not be Mario Palermo.
Characteristics
- Robust jaws and dentition
- Impacted wisdom tooth on lower left jaw
- Silicate/resin restoration to his upper right central incisor
- Appendix present
Theories
- He may be Mario Palermo
(ruled out via dental and skeletal comparison)
Clothing
- Red wool sweater
- White shirt
- Green pants
- Short brown socks