The murderer of a nine-year-old girl, whose kidnapping and death in 1984 shocked Canada and led to the conviction of an innocent person, was identified 36 years later using her DNA, police said Thursday. Toronto.
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Investigators explained that they discovered her identity by sending a sample of sperm DNA taken from the girl's underwear to an American laboratory specializing in
"genetic genealogy"
, which was able to finally bring out the name of Calvin Hoover, died in 2015. This man, 28 years old at the time of the facts, committed suicide according to several media.
He was close to the family of the young victim, who was kidnapped, raped and stabbed to death near Toronto.
"If he were alive today, Toronto police would arrest Calvin Hoover for the murder of Christine Jessop,"
Acting Toronto Police Chief James Ramer told a press conference.
The girl was abducted after leaving her home in Queensville (north of Toronto) on October 3, 1984. Her body was found nearly three months later in a field about fifty kilometers away.
A neighbor of the Jessops, Guy Paul Morin, was arrested in 1985 and sentenced to life in prison for the murder.
He had always claimed his innocence, before being finally exonerated by DNA analyzes and then released in 2015. After this miscarriage of justice, the Ontario government had paid him $ 1.25 million (800,000 euros) compensation.
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The discovery of the identity of the murderer of the girl raised new questions concerning the last days of the life of the little Christine, explained the spokesperson of the police force who launched an appeal for witnesses.
Guy Paul Morin, notified in person of this discovery by the Toronto police, said he was happy that his honor was definitively washed.
“It's something I've always hoped for,”
he told reporters.
"The justice system let me down, but science saved me
.
"