A cross-border investigation have identified human remains found in Washington state as a Keremeos man.
(SHANNON QUESNEL / iNFOnews.ca)
March 06, 2013 - 8:38 PM
A cross-border investigation has identified human remains as Miguel Joao Goncalves of Keremeos who went missing in Washington State in 2007.
The breakthroughs in this five-year-old case started in March, 2012. At a weekly B.C. and Washington State law enforcement meeting, the Osoyoos RCMP learned of an unsolved Okanogan County human remains investigation from 2008. A hiker came across skeletal human remains stuck in riverbank trees along the Okanogan River near Mallot, Washington.
A medical examiner said the bones were of a male between 20 and 50 years old and he had undergone a surgical procedure where a medical trochanteric nail and end cap were implanted. Police investigated but could not find useful information from the implants. Manufacturer records failed to provide any accurate information about their installation.
One year after the RCMP became aware of the Washington file, an investigator with the B.C. Police Missing Persons Centre was conducting a review of historical missing persons cases in the South Okanagan area.
During the process, the investigator conducting the review recalled the Goncalves missing persons case and his similar medical procedure with implants. As a result, Goncalves’ medical records were obtained and forwarded to U.S. investigators.
With this new information, a forensic anthropologist was able to confirm the remains were those of Goncalves born in 1961. Goncalves was reported missing by his family in Keremeos in November 2007. Foul play is not suspected in his death.
The Goncalves family has been informed of the discovery and are asking the media and public to respect their privacy.
To contact a reporter for this story, email Shannon Quesnel at squesnel@infotelnews.ca or call 250-488-3065.
News from © iNFOnews, 2013