Police identify body of man found in Toronto harbour in 1992

A Toronto Police Services logo is shown at headquarters, in Toronto, on Friday, August 9, 2019. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Christopher Katsarov

Toronto police say new technology has led to the identification of a man who was found in Lake Ontario back in 1992.

According to police, officers discovered the lifeless body in the inner harbour on July 27, 1992.

“Coronial and police investigations determined that the death was not suspicious,” police said in a news release issued Tuesday.

Police added that attempts to identify him through “conventional investigative techniques” were unsuccessful.

“In 2025, this case was selected for investigation using investigative genetic genealogy (IGG). A DNA profile of the unidentified man was obtained and uploaded to public-facing databases on January 8, 2026,” the news release read.

“Less than five days later, Toronto Police investigators determined that the unknown man could be named Kevin, originally from Saskatchewan.”

Police said he had family in Western Canada, and through a DNA sample from a close relative, they were able to confirm that the unknown man was in fact Kevin.

“His family was notified of the identification and provided with the details of his burial location. Kevin was not reported missing, but those who loved him had long feared what had happened to him as they had not heard from him in years,” police said. Kevin’s surname was not released.

The development marked the 10^th positive identification for the Toronto Police Service initiative dubbed Project 31, which aims to solve 31 cases involving historic unidentified deceased people.