Former Ottawa police major crimes investigator Randy Wisker remembers making a B次元官网网址渕ad scrambleB次元官网网址� to get to a pay phone in the early morning hours of April 12, 1996, after a fatal stabbing on the Portage Bridge.

Emergency dispatchers had received a call for an ambulance to the bridge between Ottawa and Gatineau, Que., but the person who placed the call didnB次元官网网址檛 give a name.

Wisker said the phone booth was about 10 blocks from the police station, but when the arrived, the caller was nowhere to be found.

B次元官网网址淚tB次元官网网址檚 right out of a movie. You know, you get to the phone booth and thereB次元官网网址檚 this handset just kind of swinging freely,B次元官网网址� Wisker said. B次元官网网址淎s if somebody just left 10 seconds ago, you know?B次元官网网址�

At the time, police believed the person who placed the call was responsible for the stabbing death of 22-year-old Christopher Smith.

Wisker, who now does contact investigative work in Ottawa for the Commissionaires and other agencies, said it was the only case he didnB次元官网网址檛 close as a lead investigator in all his years with the Ottawa Police.

B次元官网网址淚 had pretty good hope that eventually the DNA would get picked up on,B次元官网网址� he said.

Police in Ottawa said Monday that they have now identified a suspect in the unsolved murder more than 28 years later.

Police said in a statement that Lawrence Diehl, 73, was taken into custody by Vancouver police on Dec. 10 and returned to Ottawa, where he faces a charge of second-degree murder in the death of Smith.

Ottawa homicide investigators said itB次元官网网址檚 the first time theyB次元官网网址檝e used B次元官网网址渋nvestigative genetic genealogyB次元官网网址� to identify a suspect using genetic databases to track down B次元官网网址減otential family lineages.B次元官网网址�

Cold case investigators have been working on the case since 2020 with the RCMP and Toronto Police Service, and arrested Diehl with B次元官网网址渟ignificant assistanceB次元官网网址� from Vancouver police.

Ottawa Police Chief Eric Stubbs said theyB次元官网网址檝e spoken with the victimB次元官网网址檚 family, and investigators want to speak with people about DiehlB次元官网网址檚 time in Ottawa.

The Ottawa Citizen reported days after the stabbing that Smith was involved in a fight on the bridge with an unknown man, and the suspect was believed to have called 911 from a near by pay phone after the stabbing, where police found a B次元官网网址渟ubstantial amount of blood.B次元官网网址�

Wisker said he was B次元官网网址減leasantly surprisedB次元官网网址� to hear that an arrest had been made in the case so many years later.

He said police do try to keep cold cases B次元官网网址渁liveB次元官网网址� even when thereB次元官网网址檚 not much to go on, B次元官网网址渃ontraryB次元官网网址� to what the public may believe about such investigative efforts.

B次元官网网址淵ou just never know when something will come in, thatB次元官网网址檚 the whole point,B次元官网网址� he said.

Wisker said he was told of the arrest in the case only B次元官网网址渧ery recently,B次元官网网址� and that he was B次元官网网址渆xtremely impressed with the effort that they put into that to bring it in.B次元官网网址�

B次元官网网址淚tB次元官网网址檚 fantastic when you do get a DNA match, but in order to get to the point where you have a sample to provide the lab, itB次元官网网址檚 the work it takes to get it there,B次元官网网址� he said. B次元官网网址淚tB次元官网网址檚 great to have that as a tool in your tool kit, but you still have to do an awful lot of work.B次元官网网址�

Police departments across the country have turned to gene databases to solve crimes that are decades old by looking up family lineages that lead them to their suspects.