Former Ottawa police major crimes investigator Randy Wisker remembers making a 91裸聊视频渕ad scramble91裸聊视频� 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 didn91裸聊视频檛 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.

91裸聊视频淚t91裸聊视频檚 right out of a movie. You know, you get to the phone booth and there91裸聊视频檚 this handset just kind of swinging freely,91裸聊视频� Wisker said. 91裸聊视频淎s if somebody just left 10 seconds ago, you know?91裸聊视频�

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 didn91裸聊视频檛 close as a lead investigator in all his years with the Ottawa Police.

91裸聊视频淚 had pretty good hope that eventually the DNA would get picked up on,91裸聊视频� 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 it91裸聊视频檚 the first time they91裸聊视频檝e used 91裸聊视频渋nvestigative genetic genealogy91裸聊视频� to identify a suspect using genetic databases to track down 91裸聊视频減otential family lineages.91裸聊视频�

Cold case investigators have been working on the case since 2020 with the RCMP and Toronto Police Service, and arrested Diehl with 91裸聊视频渟ignificant assistance91裸聊视频� from Vancouver police.

Ottawa Police Chief Eric Stubbs said they91裸聊视频檝e spoken with the victim91裸聊视频檚 family, and investigators want to speak with people about Diehl91裸聊视频檚 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 91裸聊视频渟ubstantial amount of blood.91裸聊视频�

Wisker said he was 91裸聊视频減leasantly surprised91裸聊视频� to hear that an arrest had been made in the case so many years later.

He said police do try to keep cold cases 91裸聊视频渁live91裸聊视频� even when there91裸聊视频檚 not much to go on, 91裸聊视频渃ontrary91裸聊视频� to what the public may believe about such investigative efforts.

91裸聊视频淵ou just never know when something will come in, that91裸聊视频檚 the whole point,91裸聊视频� he said.

Wisker said he was told of the arrest in the case only 91裸聊视频渧ery recently,91裸聊视频� and that he was 91裸聊视频渆xtremely impressed with the effort that they put into that to bring it in.91裸聊视频�

91裸聊视频淚t91裸聊视频檚 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, it91裸聊视频檚 the work it takes to get it there,91裸聊视频� he said. 91裸聊视频淚t91裸聊视频檚 great to have that as a tool in your tool kit, but you still have to do an awful lot of work.91裸聊视频�

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.