Man whose body was found in septic tank on Alberta farm in 1977 was a 20-year-old from Manitoba, RCMP say | CBC News

The RCMP said Wednesday that the remains found on the farm outside Tofield were those of Sanderson, a 20-year-old Indigenous man from Manitoba.

They said the investigation into the killing remains open. 

Police began investigating the death again after the Golden State killer was arrested in 2018. They submitted Sanderson’s DNA to Othram Inc., a private laboratory in Texas.

Othram specializes in the recovery and analysis of human DNA from degraded or contaminated forensic evidence. It also does genealogical research for policing agencies in Canada and the U.S. It first hit the headlines in Canada after identifying the killer in the 1984 murder of nine-year-old Christine Jessop.  

Sanderson was nicknamed Septic Tank Sam by the RCMP after he was found on April 13, 1977, in the septic tank on the farm owned by Mavis and Charlie McLeod. Both are now deceased.

If there is a case of unidentified human remains from your town or city that has stayed with you, please email [email protected]. The Fifth Estate is producing a report for the coming season about the gaps in identifying unidentified human remains in Canada for an upcoming documentary.