A man who died in 2019 has been posthumously identified as the perpetrator of three cold case homicides in Toronto, with investigators suggesting there could be further victims. Kenneth Smith, 72, from Windsor, Ontario, was conclusively linked to the killings of two women in the 1980s and a third in the 1990s, Toronto police confirmed on Thursday.
The breakthrough came via recent forensic testing and genetic genealogy. Christine Prince, 25, was discovered dead in the Rouge River on 22 June 1982, having been sexually assaulted and struck on the head. Claire Samson, 23, was found with gunshot wounds in Oro-Medonte Township on 1 September 1983.
They say the third victim, 41-year-old Gracelyn Greenidge, died of blunt force trauma in her Toronto apartment on July 29, 1997.
Police said Smith lived and worked in Toronto at the time of the homicides and had a history of sexual assault, and investigators believe there could be more victims.
Genetic genealogy has increasingly been used to track down unidentified criminal suspects and help solve scores of cold cases in recent years, some of them more than a half-century old or involving other serial killers. It unmasked the Golden State Killer, Joseph DeAngelo, who pleaded guilty to 13 murders and 13 rape-related charges that spanned much of California between 1975 and 1986.
Police can create a DNA profile to upload to public DNA databases and compare it to other profiles, helping to trace individuals within a family tree.
Ontario Provincial Police Chief Supt. Karen Gonneau said as DNA technology advanced police reviewed a number of unsolved homicides. It wasn’t until 2017 that they linked a suspect to all three women.
Toronto Police Det. Sgt. Steve Smith said they were able to identify close relatives of the offender. And he said with that information the center of forensic science was then able to conduct the final comparison that led to the conclusive identification of Smith.
He said Smith lived and worked in Toronto during the period of all three murders. He was known to police and had a history of sexual assault.
“Based on the evidence we have today we believe it is possible that there may be additional victims who have never been identified,” Smith said.
He said Smith was never investigated for these murders previously. He also said he had been jailed at least once before the first two murders and twice before Greenidge’s murder.
