Vancouver police hope DNA will help solve 7-decades old Babes in the Woods cold case

A double homicide that has stumped Vancouver police investigators for nearly 70years is again under the microscope, but this time using the focused lens of modern DNA forensics.

In a statement Tuesday, police said the investigation known as the Babes in the Woods homicides will soon benefit from the application of genetic genealogy, a relatively new crime-solving technology.

A Vancouver police investigation followingthe discovery of a set of skeletal remains oftwo boysin Stanley Park in 1953stalled after no credible leads were found.

But now, police say,they will useDNA samples stored withprivate companies like FamilyTreeDNAto link samplestaken from the victims remains toany possible surviving family members.

"With so many people curious about their ancestry and willing to submit DNA for genetic testing, we think [we] can build a family tree for these boys and possibly identify others who are related to these young victims," VPD Sgt.Steve Addison wrote in the statement.

New technology has already had success

If successful, the case would not be the first to be solved using this relatively new technology.

In 2018, Washington state police announced a major break in a30-year-old cold case involving the double homicideof a young Saanich, B.C.,couple.

The use of genetic genealogy as an investigative tool led to arrest of William Earl Talbott II in the 1987 killings of Tanya van Cuylenborg, 18, and Jay Cook, 20.

Police say the Babes in the Woods homicides likely took placein 1948,five years before the boys,aged sevenand eight, were found bludgeoned to death.

The remains found by a groundskeeper at the time werealready highly decomposed, butboth children's skulls showedobvious signs ofblunt-force trauma, alongside of which was found oneadult-sized shoe, a woman's coat over top the remainsand ahatchet.

"We still don't know who theseboyswere, why they were in Vancouveror who killed them, butwe hope genealogical testing will finally give us the answers we've been looking for," said Addison.

More information about this cold case and otherscan be found at vpdcoldcases.ca.