Quebec cold case conviction highlights advances in DNA research techniques
A Quebec man's first-degree murder conviction in the death of a junior college student in 2000 has highlighted advances in DNA research that are being used to solve cold cases all over Canada.
A jury took just a few hours Tuesday to convict Marc-André Grenon, who was arrested and charged with killing Guylaine Potvin more than 22 years after the crime, thanks to a DNA project by the provincial crime lab.
Michael Arntfield, a criminologist and professor at Western University, said the speed of the Grenon verdict "speaks for itself in terms of just how compelling this technique is."
Arntfield said the use of DNA research to track suspects has been accelerating in recent years thanks largely to Toronto police, who obtained a government grant to accelerate the use of the techniques in investigating cold cases across Ontario.
Previously, DNA samples left at crime scenes could only be compared to profiles in criminal databases.
But with the advent of home DNA kits -- delivered by companies who offer private genetic sequencing -- researchers can compare crime scene evidence to DNA samples from thousands of profiles that have been uploaded online.
If researchers find a match between crime scene evidence and a DNA sample uploaded to a website -- even if that match corresponds to a suspect's distant relative -- they can start to build a family tree, which provides a list of potential persons of interest that can then be investigated through traditional policing methods.
The Toronto police's initiative "opened the floodgates" to reopening Canadian cold cases, especially those with a sexual assault component, Arntfield said.
High-profile successes include the arrest last year of Joseph George Sutherland, who pleaded guilty to two counts of second-degree murder in the stabbing deaths of Erin Gilmour and Susan Tice in 1983.
In Grenon's case, a forensic biologist told jurors that the suspect was tracked down thanks to a project that analyzes the Y chromosome of DNA samples and suggests potential surnames that could be associated with it based on comparisons with DNA uploaded to public sites.
The biologist testified that DNA found under Potvin's fingernails was inputted into the project's database, which produced the name "Grenon." Police then honed in on the suspect, whose name had surfaced early in the investigation, and tracked him to a movie theatre to obtain his DNA from a discarded cup and straws.
The same Y chromosome technique was used last year to help police in Longueuil, Que., south of Montreal, identify Franklin Maywood Romine as the person who likely raped and murdered 16-year-old Sharron Prior nearly 50 years ago.
After sentencing Grenon to life in prison, Quebec Superior Court Justice Francois Huot suggested that more convictions obtained by the use of DNA could follow.
"Several individuals will sleep less well tonight after hearing the news," he said.
Arntfield said that while cases are being solved, many of them still involve perpetrators who are dead, including Romine and Calvin Hoover, who was identified in 2020 as the killer of nine-year-old Queensville, Ont., girl Christine Jessop in 1984.
The first-degree conviction in the Grenon case could encourage police forces across Canada to move forward on their own cold cases, Arntfield said, adding that investigators should be using DNA research techniques with or without a court precedent.
"You can't sit around and wait for cases to be adjudicated before you decide to start acting on current emerging investigative techniques that have proven successful elsewhere," he said, noting that the research often costs only a few thousand dollars.
While the techniques have proven effective in solving crimes, some civil rights groups have expressed privacy concerns.
Canada's privacy commissioner has said that while municipal and provincial police forces are subject to provincial laws, DNA is "highly sensitive personal information."
"We recognize that DNA profiles can play an important role in law enforcement activity. However, use of DNA has significant privacy implications," wrote Vito Pilieci, a communications adviser for the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada. "We would support strong oversight and monitoring by the (privacy commissioner) of the collection, use, retention and destruction of DNA profiles by federal police, particularly as it pertains to police use of genealogy databases compiled by DNA kit companies."
Arntfield said the privacy concerns can be allayed by ensuring law enforcement can only search databases composed of samples from people who have explicitly consented to their information being used in criminal investigations.
He dismissed the idea that an offender's privacy can be breached by a DNA test taken by someone else that inadvertently reveals a familial link.
"That's no different than saying it's a breach of privacy that somebody's neighbour called a tip into the police that they recognize their face from a composite drawing," he said. "It's just bad luck."
-- This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 23, 2024.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Canadian former Olympic snowboarder wanted in Ontario double homicide: DOJ
A Canadian former Olympic snowboarder who is suspected of being the leader of a transnational drug trafficking group that operated in four countries is wanted for allegedly orchestrating the murder of an 'innocent' couple in Ontario in 2023, authorities say.
Ontario school board trustees under fire for $100K religious art purchase on Italy trip
Trustees with an Ontario school board are responding to criticism over a $45,000 trip to Italy, where they purchased more than $100,000 worth of religious statues.
A photographer snorkeled for hours to take this picture
Shane Gross, a Canadian marine conservation photojournalist, has won the title of Wildlife Photographer of the Year.
Tobacco giants would pay out $32.5 billion to provinces, smokers in proposed deal
Three tobacco giants are proposing to pay close to $25 billion to provinces and territories and more than $4 billion to some 100,000 Quebec smokers and their loved ones as part of a corporate restructuring process triggered by a long-running legal battle.
More Trudeau cabinet ministers not running for re-election, sources say shuffle expected soon
Federal cabinet ministers Filomena Tassi, Carla Qualtrough and Dan Vandal announced Thursday they will not run for re-election. Senior government sources tell CTV News at least one other, Marie-Claude Bibeau, doesn't plan to run again, setting the stage for Justin Trudeau to shuffle his cabinet in the coming weeks.
Robert Pickton's handwritten book seized after his death in hopes of uncovering new evidence
A handwritten book was seized from B.C. serial killer Robert Pickton's prison cell following his death earlier this year, raising hopes of uncovering new evidence in a series of unprosecuted murders.
Former members of One Direction say they're 'completely devastated' by Liam Payne's death
The former members of English boy band One Direction reacted publicly to the sudden death of their bandmate, Liam Payne, for the first time on Thursday, saying in a joint statement that they're 'completely devastated.'
Israel says it has killed top Hamas leader Yayha Sinwar in Gaza
Israeli forces in Gaza killed top Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, a chief architect of last year's attack on Israel that sparked the war, the military said Thursday. Troops appeared to have run across him unknowingly in a battle, only to discover afterwards that a body in the rubble was Israel's most wanted man.
Indian government employee charged in foiled murder-for-hire plot in New York City
The U.S. Justice Department announced criminal charges Thursday against an Indian government employee in connection with a foiled plot to kill a Sikh separatist leader living in New York City.