TORONTO: A 61-year-old man has been charged with the murder of two women who were found dead in their Toronto homes nearly forty years ago, months apart, police announced Monday.
Joseph George Sutherland of Mosonee, Ont., was taken into custody Thursday and charged with first-degree murder in the 1983 murders of Erin Gilmour and Susan Tice, according to Police Chief James Remar.
According to Ramar, both women were stabbed to death after being sexually assaulted. Despite the fact that their bodies were found four months apart, in 2000, detectives linked the deaths using DNA technology, and according to him, they suspected the same man in both cases.
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According to police, Tice was a 45-year-old mother of four who had a master's degree in social work and worked with underprivileged children, and Gilmour was a 22-year-old aspiring fashion designer. Erin's brother Sean McCowan announced, "Me and we've been waiting almost a lifetime for this day.
It gives someone who was previously a ghost to all of us. One name and one face. According to police, genetic samples from the case were sent to a Texas lab in 2019, and the results were compared to samples uploaded to Family Tree DNA, a commercial genetic testing business with offices in Houston.
Detectives then began working backwards, creating a family tree of the suspect's close relatives, according to Det. Sgt. Steve Smith. Sutherland received a warrant to test his DNA against samples taken from the crime scene as the police closed in on him.
According to Smith, the same lab assisted police in a separate case by analyzing DNA samples to identify the person most likely responsible for the 1984 murder of Christine Jessop, who was 9 years old at the time.
The Jessup family's lawyer claimed the man had committed suicide in 2015, despite the fact that police claimed they would have charged him with murder.
According to Smith, Sutherland was not previously a suspect or person of interest in the deaths of Gilmour and Tice, and police would not have been able to link him to the crimes without DNA testing.
According to Toronto police, they will now investigate whether Sutherland is connected to any other unsolved cases dating back to the 39-year-old. According to Smith, detectives are also contacting police departments across the province where the person may have lived or visited.
Sutherland was taken into custody by Ontario Provincial Police officers in Moosonee on Thursday without any arrest. He is to return to court on December 9.
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Sutherland, according to Smith, was a resident of Toronto at the time of the deaths. He declined to provide further details, saying there was a publication embargo on the case.