Facial reconstruction aims to ID man
Remains found on Nova Scotia beach in September
Mounties are hoping someone will be able to identify the man washed ashore in Digby County in September after his skull was used to reconstruct his face with clay.
Students at the New York Academy of Arts used the skull found on a beach in Sandy Cove, along with 14 other skulls from Canada, to create facial reconstructions that might help identify missing people, the Department of Justice said in a news release Tuesday.
“We’re hoping that this reconstruction may help identify who this person was,” Justice Minister Mark Furey said.
“Seeing a face may prompt people to recall important information that could help identify this individual and solve their case.”
The province’s chief medical examiner said it is rare for investigators to have no idea who a person is months after their remains are found.
“That problem obviously requires a lot of extra effort on our part and it’s sometimes a lengthy process,” said Dr. Matthew Bowes.
“Some human remains we receive are so badly weathered or fragmented or decomposed that we really don’t have any hope of matching a name to the (person), but we still retain that material and we still hope for the best.”
Of the 15 cases of human skulls that were part of this recent facial reconstruction, all but the one from Digby County were from British Columbia. The oldest remains date back to 1972. The Digby County find is the most recent. The gap in age estimates varies for the individuals. The remains of one male discovered in Richmond, B.C., has been narrowed to 45 to 55, whereas the age estimate for the person found in Digby County goes from 30 to 60.
Asked why it would be easier in some cases to pinpoint an age range, Bowes said it all has to do with the condition of the remains.
“The remains in this case are, really, not well preserved. The less well preserved the remains are, the harder it is for us to make some kind of estimate of the age, and other aspects, too. You’ll notice we didn’t report an ethnicity . . . the conditions of the remains doesn’t permit us to do that.”
Bodies in water, especially the ocean, are often skeletonized rapidly, he said. Because these remains were found on a beach in Sandy Cove, it’s presumed the body washed up on shore. While that inference can be drawn, it’s always important not to discount other possibilities, he said.
The medical examiner said bodies in the water can travel long distances due to currents. “There’s shipping going by Nova Scotia all of the time,” he said. “If this body had been on one of the many ships that passed by our shores, that person may have originated from maybe anywhere.”
The clothing in this case may yield clues, which is why photographs have been released to the public.
Asked if in cases where identify has been solved by facial recognition, whether the reconstruction was pretty close to the mark, Bowes said, “I do know that it has resulted in hits and it has resulted in successful identifications.”
“When you imagine the artist building up a face and a skull you sort of imagine it being a purely an artistic exercise, but actually they have a lot of data regarding tissue depth thickness . . . and they have a lot of scientific understanding of the tissue and the muscle that goes into a human face,” he said. “I’m very hopeful that this will yield something. It is definitely our wish to reunite this man with his family as soon as possible.”
The facial reconstruction, done in partnership between the Nova Scotia Medical Examiner Service, RCMP, National Research Council and the New York Academy of Arts, is the latest information released to the public.
Last week, RCMP released photos of a size 9 workboot and bootcut jeans with a size 36-inch waist that were found with the man’s body on Sept. 8.
Anyone with information about the man’s identity is asked to email canadasmissingdisparuscanada@rcmp-grc.gc.ca or submit a tip to www.canadasmissing.ca.
“It is definitely our wish to reunite this man with his family as soon as possible.”
Dr. Matthew Bowes