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Skull reconstruction gives new insight into unknown man found near B.C. cemetery

RCMP released a 3-D skull reconstruction of a man who was found dead on July 2, 1998
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Mounties are looking to identify this man, pictured here in a 3-D reconstruction, whose body was found in Port Coquitlam in 1998.(Coquitlam RCMP)

Mounties in Coquitlam are hoping a newly-created 3-D skull reconstruction of a man who has been unidentified for decades will help authorities figure out who he is.

On Tuesday, RCMP released a 3-D skull reconstruction of a man who was found dead on July 2, 1998. His body was found in a heavily-wooded area near the Port Coquitlam Cemetery in the 4100 block of Oxford Street.

The reconstruction was part of a partnership between the RCMP, the B.C. Coroner’s Service and the New York Academy of Art to reconstruct the skulls of 14 unidentified remains from B.C.

The reconstruction of this man’s skull looked “very different” from the composite sketch created when he was first found.

“A composite drawing was made in 1998, but it was complicated because the man had been dead between two and 10 years,” said Cpl. Michael McLaughlin. “The jaw, nose and mouth of this man are very different from the sketch.”

A sketch of a man found near the Port Coquitlam cemetery in 1998. (RCMP)

Mounties believe the man was between 35 and 49 years old when he died, between five-foot-six and five-foot-ten and of an unknown ethnicity.

He had a missing upper front tooth and had “generally bad tooth decay,” a healed broken nose that may have been slightly lopsided or crooked and Osgood Schlatter disease, a condition commonly developed in young people who play sports. It appeared as a bump on the shin below this man’s left knee, Mounties said.

READ MORE: B.C. coroner, RCMP partner with NYC art school to put a face to unidentified remains


@katslepian

katya.slepian@bpdigital.ca

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