CANADA Canada - Niagara-on-the-Lake, WhtMale, 40-45, in Lake Ontario, Oct'15

[jash]

I searched and did not see a thread for this John Doe.

His body was found October 8, 2015, in the waters of Lake Ontario by Niagara-on-the-Lake.

- white man with olive complexion
- 40 to 45 years of age
- short brown hair
- 5'10"
- 220 lbs

From the police press release issued January 22, 2016:

At this time investigators have been unable to identify the male and are requesting the public's assistance by releasing a photo of the shoes the male was wearing upon his recovery. The shoes are a loafer style, European shoe size 43, blue in colour, denim appearance, with a plaid liner.

Anyone with information concerning the shoes including details where such shoes may be purchased are asked to contact Niagara Regional Police Service, 2 District Detective Office.

A lot of tourists visit the Niagara area so he really could be from anywhere, but if he was only visiting, I'd hope someone would have noticed him missing (like wherever he was staying).

 

[Peanut2]

It's possible he was a migrant worker too, because that area has a lot of seasonal migrant workers. The area is part of the Niagara fruit belt. October seems late for a migrant worker, but that's when he was found. I wonder how long he was there..

 

[musicaljoke]

Men's EUR size 43 is CAN size 10. You'd think that if both of these loose loafer shoes were still with the body, that the deceased couldn't have been in the water long, nor travelled downstream very far.

I wonder if we'll get more information.

Police are asking for information about where the shoes may have been purchased.

 

[jash]

It's possible he was a migrant worker too, because that area has a lot of seasonal migrant workers. The area is part of the Niagara fruit belt. October seems late for a migrant worker, but that's when he was found. I wonder how long he was there..

That's a good point.

According to an article from September 2015:

"About 16,000 overseas workers come to Ontario throughout the year, with 2,860 of them working this year on Niagara farms, orchards and greenhouses. They come from Mexico, Jamaica and the Caribbean islands and have to apply through their home country's ministry of labour."
http://www.stcatharinesstandard.ca/2015/09/03/army-of-migrant-workers-power-niagaras-farms

John Doe would be large for a male from Mexico (average height is only 5 feet 4.5 inches, and 165 lbs).

 

[bombardier]

His Ontario Missing Adult's page and his RCMP page. Very weirdly, they have a picture of him, alive, in the water. According to first link, it seems like there used to be a postmortem photo at RCMP link but they've replaced it with this one. Pic look too high quality to be taken by CCTV but I don't know. Was this a suicide or accident, and a tourist snapped a photo? And they couldn't help him and he drowned?
His clothing description makes it seem like he was just wearing socks and loafers, but clearly he was fully dressed, including a blue/green plaid? shirt and a black winter jacket with a red plaid lining.

 

[jash]

His Ontario Missing Adult's page and his RCMP page. Very weirdly, they have a picture of him, alive, in the water. According to first link, it seems like there used to be a postmortem photo at RCMP link but they've replaced it with this one. Pic look too high quality to be taken by CCTV but I don't know. Was this a suicide or accident, and a tourist snapped a photo? And they couldn't help him and he drowned?
His clothing description makes it seem like he was just wearing socks and loafers, but clearly he was fully dressed, including a blue/green plaid? shirt and a black winter jacket with a red plaid lining.

What a haunting final image.

 

[bombardier]

It's really horrible, isn't it? Makes me sad because I truly believe his death was preventable.
Getting a better look at him, it looks like he could be Caucasian w/ olive complexion, Hispanic, Middle Eastern, or even Indian. I don't believe RCMP ever did an actual genetic test.

I think it's equally possible he's from the US, maybe New York, with how he was straddling the border. I've tried to look at New York MP and none really caught my eye. NY is not well-centralized when it comes to it's missing persons though, it seems like a ton make local news and that's it (or not even). They have ~1000 entries on NamUs but truly I feel like that's a minority of actual cases. 2000-2016 coverage is especially spotty, w/ ~one page (25 entries) of cold cases per year.

 

[bombardier]

also IMO I think if someone was attempting suicide by drowning (I don't believe Niagara-On-The-Lake is near the falls), they'd take off their jacket. Most people know that winter downy jackets can act a bit like floatation devices.

 

[Curious_in_NC]

Wow. There's a lot to explain about this photo.

 

[bombardier]

Here are some international missing men from Interpol. All long shots to be honest, but I do think people only get reported to Interpol when international travel is suspected...
Ilmi Cerriku - missing from Albania in 2013. No height given.

Dario Orlando Zevallos Alvarado - from Ecuador in early 2015. No height given.

Assaf Oiknine - missing from Israel in early 2015. No height given.