A 47-year-old cold case has been solved using DNA genealogy tech and charges have been laid in connection with the death of Pauline Brazeau.
In the fall of 1975, Brazeau, a 16-year-old single mother who was Metis, had recently moved to Calgary from Saskatchewan. She was last seen leaving Peppe’s Ristorante on 7th Street and 17th Avenue in Calgary at approximately 3 a.m. on Jan. 9, 1976.
Her body was found hours later near Cochrane. An autopsy deemed her death was the result of homicide.
RCMP historical homicide investigators teamed up with members of the Calgary Police Service cold case homicide unit and used Othram Inc., a private forensic lab in the United States, to investigate the file.
The CPS worked with two genealogists at Convergence Investigative Genetic Genealogy and, earlier this year, identified a suspect.
On Tuesday, police arrested 73-year-old Ronald James Edwards of Sundre, Alta.
Edwards was remanded into custody following an interim release hearing, and was was charged with non-capital murder as it appeared in the Criminal Code in 1976.
Brazeau’s case was reopened in 2021 after the RCMP and Calgary police partnered to “reanalyze historical homicide investigations from the Calgary area that date back to the 1970s,” a statement by the RCMP read.
RCMP Insp. Breanne Brown said the search for Pauline’s killer has never ended over the past 47 years.
Edwards is due in court in Calgary next week.
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