Police ID man whose remains were found at Downsview construction site in 2021

The Toronto Police Services emblem is photographed during a press conference at TPS headquarters, in Toronto on Tuesday, May 17, 2022. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Christopher Katsarov

Police have now identified the person whose remains were found at a construction site in Toronto’s Downsview neighbourhood nearly five years ago.

On the morning of Sept. 16, 2021, Toronto Police were called to the site near 30 Carl Hall Rd., located east of Keele Street.

Officials say a construction crew had been installing a fence at the time when they found a human skull in thick brush.

Attending officers, with the supervision of the Chief Coroner’s office, cut down the brush to find more skeletal remains of a person.

A joint investigation determined the death was not suspicious, as further examination indicated this person had been dead for “several years” before they found his remains.

Officials had been trying various ways to identify the unknown man through conventional techniques but were unsuccessful until the case was selected to use investigative genetic genealogy (IGG) in 2022.

Through IGG, police say they obtained a DNA profile and uploaded the details to “public-facing databases” on Dec. 21 that year.

“The man’s DNA matches indicated that he was Indigenous, with distant relatives across Ontario and the Great Lakes region. DNA comparisons were conducted with relatives of other missing Indigenous men, but the man remained unidentified,” Thursday’s news release reads.

Eventually, investigators determined the man could be Willard Duval, who was last seen in May 2017 and was reported missing the following year in February.

After several months, Toronto Police and the Ontario Forensic Pathology Service confirmed Duval was the previously unidentified man.

Following their discovery, investigators said they tracked down Duval’s niece and informed her of his passing. As of April 25, 2026, Duval was buried with his brother.

Police say he is the 11th person identified under Project 31, an initiative launched in the summer of 2022.

It was created, police say, in an effort to name the 31 unidentified deceased persons in long-term cases where DNA material was readily available.