LaSalle police have identified the body of a man found in the Detroit River 17 years ago.
On August 15, 2008, police recovered a male body that was located floating along the western shore of Fighting Island in LaSalle.
At that time, investigators contacted law enforcement agencies on both sides of the border to compare missing person files and assist in identifying the deceased male, with the story also shared with news organizations in Canada and the U.S.; however, all efforts to identify the man were unsuccessful.
Police say in 2011, a DNA profile was developed for the deceased and later uploaded to the Canadian Human Remains Index, which contains DNA profiles from found human remains and can be compared with other databases.
In 2025, the LaSalle Police Service was authorized to compare the deceased's DNA profile with the U.S. DNA database. As a result, on August 14, 2025, police received positive confirmation of the deceased's identity from the RCMP's Forensic Science and Identification Service.
The man's next of kin has been notified in the United States, and investigators have determined there were no signs of foul play.