In January 1953, the skeletal remains of two young boys were found in an overgrowth of brush in Vancouver's Stanley Park. Nearly 70 years later, DNA experts and genetic genealogists from Canada and the U.S. have identified the slain brothers.
Stanley Park is pictured, with downtown Vancouver, British Columbia, in the background, in this 2015 photo. Genetic genealogy has helped authorities identify the remains of two boys found in Stanley Park in 1953 as David D’Alton, 6, and his 7-year-old half-brother, Derek D’Alton. The boys, who were slain with a hatchet, remained unidentified for nearly 70 years until their DNA led authorities to a relative.
“They were covered by a women’s coat and concealed by thick brush that had grown around their bodies after death,”Found with the bodies was the boys’ decomposed clothing, which included brown Oxford shoes and leather aviation helmets with goggles. One of the boys carried a blue tin lunch box that had rusted in the elements.Cold case solved:
“The hatchet found at the scene was most likely used as the murder weapon, as one victim’s skull had a wound to the back of the head which the hatchet fit in exact proportions,”. “The other skull was fractured by what may have been the hammer of the axe.”
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