Police identify new suspect in Christine Jessop cold case

Toronto Police have identified a new suspect in the 1984 murder of Christine Jessop, a nine-year-old girl who was abducted from her home in Queensville north of Toronto and whose body was found months later in Durham Region.

The case drew nationwide attention during two trials of Guy Paul Morin who was eventually acquitted based on DNA evidence. And DNA evidence is what has led police to a new suspect.

Toronto Police say they used a new technique called genetic genealogy. They took a semen sample found at the murder scene and submitted it to a U.S. lab that helps police forces trace genetic connections through genealogical databases.

The technique was used in 2018 to finally uncover the “Golden State Killer”, a former police officer who raped 50 women and murdered 13 people in California during the 1970s and 1980s

As a result, they have named Calvin Hoover, a friend of the Jessop family who was then 28 years old as their new suspect.  Hoover died in 2015, but investigators say if he were alive today they would be charging him with Christine Jessop’s murder.