Identified! Canada - Laurentian Hills, WhtMale 28-40, 334UMON, eyeglasses, Sep'01 - Name withheld

[RickshawFan]

In earlier threads there was speculation that he may have come (from LA ?) to Ontario for the International Film festival, possibly Brett got ''lost'' in the shuffle of film & flight cancellations.imo. rbbm.

2001 Toronto International Film Festival - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

''The 26th Toronto International Film Festival ran from September 6 to September 15, 2001. There were 326 films (249 feature films, 77 short films) from 54 countries scheduled to be screened during the ten-day festival. During a hastily arranged press conference on September 11, Festival director Piers Handling and managing director Michelle Maheux announced that 30 public screenings and 20 press screenings would be cancelled during the sixth day of the festival due to the September 11, 2001 attacks in New York City and Washington, D.C.[1] The festival resumed for the final four days though some films were cancelled because the film prints could not reach Toronto due to flight restrictions.''

Was there a detail somewhere that suggested Bret would be linked to the movie scene? I haven't seen anything that would make me jump to agreement.

 

[RickshawFan]

That's my problem! There are too many! And I can't get a sort by ethnicity or height or even gender.

I have figured out to go on NAMUS....

 

[branmuffin]

Bret would pretty much have had to go to an outdoor store to get that candle lantern, unless he picked it up secondhand… outdoor stores sell a lot of Mag lites, but probably other places as well. I suppose he could have had a teenie weenie Mag lite: I wish we had photos of his stuff.

I am assuming that he has one of those little mag lights. I have a couple. They are pretty powerful and are bright for their size and much easier to carry if you are an experienced hiker although I'd think a couple of extra batteries would be de rigueur. I'm wondering about the emergency blanket. I used to have one and it was about the size of a throw, not really big, enough to wrap around your shoulders, but how much room would one have taken up in that knapsack he had with him? I can't envision the size.

 

[RickshawFan]

I am assuming that he has one of those little mag lights. I have a couple. They are pretty powerful and are bright for their size and much easier to carry if you are an experienced hiker although I'd think a couple of extra batteries would be de rigueur. I'm wondering about the emergency blanket. I used to have one and it was about the size of a throw, not really big, enough to wrap around your shoulders, but how much room would one have taken up in that knapsack he had with him? I can't envision the size.

Emergency blankets are generally the size of a deck of cards; they're tinfoil thingies. I believe that's what is being described, and they were available in 2001. [There are other kinds of emergency blankets, e.g. Space Blanket].
There are a couple of different models of small MagLites. Yes, they are nice and bright for their compact size. I'm thinking it doesn't matter which one, unless it's one of those teensy weensy ones you click onto a key fob, which would provide very little light. It's just curious he opted for a candle lantern instead of extra batteries, but maybe it was in the clearance bin, or something.
IMO he wasn't at all an experienced hiker, but I would guess he might have spoken to a sales person at an outdoor store who steered him towards a couple of items of safety equipment, including a light, candle lantern, the emergency blanket, the socks, maybe energy bars, a water bottle. The compass was on his watch. I guess no map. The same sales person may have recommended the trail. It might have been an out-of-town store. There may have been a map online, but no sign that Bret had one with him (the best route to the cabin has several forks, as far as I can tell).
Sales people in outdoor stores often give these kinds of suggestions on product and recommendations for trails.
I wish there were photos of the stuff.

I am pretty much thinking Bret assumed the cabin was open. A salesperson recommending it may only have visited in winter and not realized it was a seasonal cabin.
If night was coming on, Bret did the safest thing in bedding down in the outhouse (especially if he was afraid of critters, or if it was buggy, or chill had set in), which would have had little odor if it was the composting kind. It likely was rarely used in summer, anyway. We have one near here like that, and it has no aroma at all, and it's not even composting: it goes with a XCountryski cabin.

It's also possible Bret got jittery because of where he was (being a novice 'n'all), and thought the jitters would be addressed by his pills. He might have been in the habit of handling jitters that way. In the same way, Ritalin will make you jittery, but it calms down folks' ADHD: very paradoxical. He would have been better off eating those energy bars...

 

[RickshawFan]

I'm settling on the hiking angle not being significant: it might very well be a peripheral detail and not central. Bret could have got a recommendation to go there from all kinds of people.
I don't mean to be a wet blanket here: I believe this frees us up to expand a search without a hike as key element.

I wish LE had advertised widely for a piece of Eagle Creek luggage that matched the backpack. It could have been left at a hotel in Ottowa or somewhere. Maybe even in Deep River, if not at a hotel, at an outdoor store. A workout club with shower and lockers?

The rest of his caffeine supply HAD to have been somewhere. It seems unlikely that he'd take the ENTIRE supply on a hike.

 

[Ozoner]

I'm settling on the hiking angle not being significant: it might very well be a peripheral detail and not central. Bret could have got a recommendation to go there from all kinds of people.
I don't mean to be a wet blanket here: I believe this frees us up to expand a search without a hike as key element.

I wish LE had advertised widely for a piece of Eagle Creek luggage that matched the backpack. It could have been left at a hotel in Ottowa or somewhere. Maybe even in Deep River, if not at a hotel, at an outdoor store. A workout club with shower and lockers?

The rest of his caffeine supply HAD to have been somewhere. It seems unlikely that he'd take the ENTIRE supply on a hike.

All of his stuff was probably left in a hotel somewhere, but hotels are used to people leaving things behind. Everything was probably thrown out.

 

[Snoopster]

All of his stuff was probably left in a hotel somewhere, but hotels are used to people leaving things behind. Everything was probably thrown out.

BS tended to stay in nice hotels. Wouldn't most of them report someone who hadn't checked out and who had left their luggage and toiletries in their room? That's often a red flag.

 

[RickshawFan]

BS tended to stay in nice hotels. Wouldn't most of them report someone who hadn't checked out and who had left their luggage and toiletries in their room? That's often a red flag.

I've been known to leave my luggage not in the room, but in a storage room at the hotel provided for this purpose. This lets you check in/out by the requisite hour (e.g. if there's an ongoing conference in the hotel), but not have to schlepp your luggage around.
Maybe Bret had a freebie day before or after a conference with his luggage safely stashed in a storage area like that?

 

[Ark]

Early news reports... He was found lying across the seat in the outhouse with an emergency blanket on top. It looked like he'd "gone to sleep for the night".

Death in woods still a mystery 18 months later

Ontario police unable to identify fit man found dead in an outhouse on remote trail

www.theglobeandmail.com

This is a good source for what we need here. I'm sure it's upthread, but I don't want to lose it.

This article bugs me so much.

"He had laundry bags from different hotels: Sutton Place in Toronto, the Barclay Hotel in Vancouver and W Hotels, an upscale chain in the United States."

Here is your answer right here. If you were able to obtain names of all guests for probably the past year of both the Sutton Place in Toronto and the Barclay Hotel in Vancouver, I imagine there would be very few names that would appear on both lists. Probably only one... And that could well be this guy. One would have hoped the police would have already looked in to this... But who knows these days.

 

[RickshawFan]

This article bugs me so much.

"He had laundry bags from different hotels: Sutton Place in Toronto, the Barclay Hotel in Vancouver and W Hotels, an upscale chain in the United States."

Here is your answer right here. If you were able to obtain names of all guests for probably the past year of both the Sutton Place in Toronto and the Barclay Hotel in Vancouver, I imagine there would be very few names that would appear on both lists. Probably only one... And that could well be this guy. One would have hoped the police would have already looked in to this... But who knows these days.

You're right. Not only that, a computer could do it in no time. I'm thinking even an Excel spreadsheet. Almost no skill. If you had to, you could just throw all the names onto the spreadsheet and have Excel alphabetize. If a name appears more than once, you'd be zeroing on a match.

It's possible LE did run it, and didn't come up with anything. But there's no sign that they did. Bret could actually have been a guest of a hotel guest, though this might also create a duplicate entry at the hotels. Maybe even different hotel guests.

It also seems as though LE got hung up on the oddity of the hike, when IMO all of that could be easily explained away as just being a recommendation from someone random. I don't believe it's a significant detail here.

An Eagle Creek pack would match the financial status of someone who could afford to be at nice chain hotels. It's a very nice travel pack, even more special in those days. Eagle Creek was kinda on the cutting edge as far as re-imagining luggage. They had many innovations: they pioneered "cubes" for packing, and small packs that could attach to big travel packs/luggage (almost certainly the type in this case).

 

[Ozoner]

You're right. Not only that, a computer could do it in no time. I'm thinking even an Excel spreadsheet. Almost no skill. If you had to, you could just throw all the names onto the spreadsheet and have Excel alphabetize. If a name appears more than once, you'd be zeroing on a match.

It's possible LE did run it, and didn't come up with anything. But there's no sign that they did. Bret could actually have been a guest of a hotel guest, though this might also create a duplicate entry at the hotels. Maybe even different hotel guests.

It also seems as though LE got hung up on the oddity of the hike, when IMO all of that could be easily explained away as just being a recommendation from someone random. I don't believe it's a significant detail here.

An Eagle Creek pack would match the financial status of someone who could afford to be at nice chain hotels. It's a very nice travel pack, even more special in those days. Eagle Creek was kinda on the cutting edge as far as re-imagining luggage. They had many innovations: they pioneered "cubes" for packing, and small packs that could attach to big travel packs/luggage (almost certainly the type in this case).

It's likely that hotels would have refused to share their guest registers without a warrant, and law enforcement would not have been able to get a warrant for the complete registers.

 

[Gina20]

There are many possibilities. One is that this man was an eco-tourist or tourist-volunteer. Costa Rica offers many of these kinds of opportunities, from conservation to social projects.

What could have drawn him to Ontario and the Laurentian Hills? The Petawawa Research Forest might have been on his sightseeing agenda. This area has been studied and protected for more than 100 years, and is interesting ecologically. Tourists are able to hike or cycle 11 kms. of trails. The trails are moderate and include a boardwalk, gravel and paved pathways, so people of varying fitness levels can take a walk in the woods. This forest is just a 15-minute drive from where he was found dead. Did he intend to go to the research forest?

Petawawa Research Forest Trails • Ontario Nature Trails

Find trail features, amenities, accessibility, directions and more for the Petawawa Research Forest Trails.

ontarionaturetrails.com

Another interesting fact about the research forest is that it is a "remote sensing supersite". Aerial LIDAR and other surveys have been taking place in the forest for decades.

Petawawa Research Forest: A Remote Sensing Supersite

Whatever his reason for taking the path less travelled, I believe his death in the woods during September 2001 meant that priorities were elsewhere. Why after all this time has no effort been made to test his DNA? Or has it? If DNA testing has been done, it is a well-kept secret that led nowhere. I believe our man in the woods was simply forgotten, and nobody came looking for him. However and whatever led to his passing, it's time for "9/11 man" to go home to his family.

 

[Ozoner]

I believe our man in the woods was simply forgotten, and nobody came looking for him. However and whatever led to his passing, it's time for "9/11 man" to go home to his family.

Not everybody has a family to go home to—some UIDs may have no surviving family, while others may have a family who doesn't care one way or the other. I would like to see all UIDs identified regardless of whether anyone is interested in claiming them.

 

[Gina20]

Not everybody has a family to go home to—some UIDs may have no surviving family, while others may have a family who doesn't care one way or the other. I would like to see all UIDs identified regardless of whether anyone is interested in claiming them.

Everybody had a mother. Everybody came from someone, somewhere. This man deserves to be identified. IMO, that cannot be done at this point without DNA testing and building his family tree via familial DNA. Someone, somewhere might have tested their DNA, looking for unknown relatives. Our Laurentian Hills man deserves no
less than a DNA test and family tree reconstruction. Private companies offer this service for a fee, and some will assist police forces in fundraising. One such company is Othram.

He will not be identified without his family. He deserves no less.

 

[RickshawFan]

I got to thinking about this case a bit more, and thought I'd articulate an idea I had in mind at the beginning before I went on a bunch of detours.

I speculate Bret had an assignation with someone at that cabin. Bret waited and waited. He waited until after dark. The other person didn't show up. He took the pills either because he was super anxious or because he thought they'd let him sleep through a cold, dark, night.

An assignation is the only scenario that makes sense to me, since otherwise it seems quite strange to go to that location specifically.

The assignation could have originated with someone who was disrespectful and mean rather than someone who intended harm. Bret's overdose could have just been a personal catastrophe, not something someone else could be blamed for.

An assignation would explain why no one in town remembers Bret. It might have been the kind of thing Bret would keep on the down low.

I got fixated on this speculation because I happened to watch the interrogation of Russell Williams, a serial killed (women and girls), breaking and entering something like 82 homes.... I didn't know anything about him, so I looked him up. Interestingly, he grew up in Chalk River, Ontario. Ding ding ding, I recalled that place from somewhere, and it was here!

Now I'm speculating full bore....

PS Russell Williams was the guy who wore the same shoes to the interrogation that he had tromped through the muddy yard in when he committed a heinous murder of a young woman in her home.

His interrogation is here (brilliant interrogator):

 

[Gina20]

If a soldier with no living relatives in his direct family line can be identified more than 100 years after his death, I think it is possible to identify our man in the woods.

DNA and a decade of work identify Canadian soldier, 106 years after death in France

A whistle, a pocket watch and DNA analysis helped a Canadian Forces forensic team identify the remains of a Vancouver soldier more than 100 years after he died in France.

bc.ctvnews.ca

In this case, it took DNA from a distant relative on a different branch of the family tree, who had no idea who he was: family nonetheless.

 

[RickshawFan]

I'm new to this, so I'm not sure what it takes to get DNA submitted for the newest DNA technology, but it seems this case would be easy with DNA research.

 

[Gina20]

I'm new to this, so I'm not sure what it takes to get DNA submitted for the newest DNA technology, but it seems this case would be easy with DNA research.

It will take money and time to identify him, but surely his DNA would not be nearly as degraded as a century-old sample. It's plausible that he might have living relatives much closer on the family tree, some of whom might have submitted their own DNA to databases. It's up to local authorities to submit his DNA for identification. What will it take to get the ball rolling on genetic genealogy for this man?

 

[Ark]

The issue is money and whether there is a significant enough public interest in the case to warrant it. That's unfortunately the sad matter of the fact. Until the DNA analysis needed for genetic genealogy analysis becomes more affordable then this will always be the case. Hopefully it will become more affordable soon and then I imagine the vast majority of cases on this message board will be solved

 

[Gina20]

The issue is money and whether there is a significant enough public interest in the case to warrant it. That's unfortunately the sad matter of the fact. Until the DNA analysis needed for genetic genealogy analysis becomes more affordable then this will always be the case. Hopefully it will become more affordable soon and then I imagine the vast majority of cases on this message board will be solved

Indeed!