Ontario police crack the mystery of Sudbury woman missing for almost 50 years through DNA technology, everything you need to know about the identified victim

After nearly half a century of unanswered questions, police in Ontario have identified the remains of Pamela Harvey, a 23-year-old Sudbury woman who disappeared in 1978, with investigators confirming she was the victim of a homicide through advances in DNA technology and decades of preserved evidence.

Working with the Sûreté du Québec and other agencies, Greater Sudbury police confirmed that remains discovered in March 1979 in St-Eustache, Quebec, belonged to Harvey.

“Investigators determined that she was the victim of a homicide,” Sudbury police said.


On Nov. 16, 1978, Harvey left her Lloyd Street apartment after placing her young son in a neighbour’s care; she was reported missing a month later, as speculation grew about possible links to biker gangs active in the city at the time.

At 23, Harvey was killed in a case where the suspected perpetrator died in 1979, police said; her disappearance was later documented in a book on Sudbury’s unsolved cases.

According to CTV News website, the remains discovered in 1979 were carefully preserved by Quebec authorities, enabling their identification decades later.

“Despite the limitations of forensic science at the time, the evidence was carefully collected and preserved by investigators and … forensic specialists and has been securely maintained ever since,” police said.

“Although current technologies were not available at the time, this preservation enabled the use of modern forensic methods, including DNA analysis. For the next 47 years, members of the Sudbury Regional Police Service and, later, the Greater Sudbury Police Service remained committed to Pamela’s case.”

Police said the National Missing Persons DNA Program, introduced in 2018, enables families to submit DNA samples to assist in identifying missing persons and unidentified human remains.

After meeting with Harvey’s family, Sudbury detectives collected DNA samples and submitted them to the national database.

Police said, “In 2025, within this collaborative framework, a forensic odontologist was able to connect Pamela Harvey’s missing persons case with the unidentified homicide victim discovered in St-Eustache.”

“This confirmation provides long-awaited answers to Pamela’s family and ensures that her identity and story are no longer unknown,” police said.