How one of Canada’s ‘oldest unsolved and most unique’ cases was cracked

Jewell Langford, center, was identified as the victim whose body was pulled from the Nation River in 1975. Photograph: Ontario Provincial Police

For nearly five decades, little was known about the woman whose body was pulled from the Nation River, 90 miles west of Montreal, on 3 May 1975.

She was white, with shoulder-length brown hair recently dyed strawberry blond and well-manicured nails. But she had no identification nor any clear identifying features.