York police identify suspect in 51-year-old murder using advanced DNA
Posted November 15, 2023 11:20 am.
Last Updated November 15, 2023 5:40 pm.
York Regional Police say advanced DNA technology is responsible for solving what it called the “cruel and ruthless murder” of 16-year-old Yvonne Leroux.
Leroux was last seen leaving a clinic on Oakdale Road — formerly the Humber River Hospital – near Finch Avenue West and Highway 400 around 10 p.m. on November 29, 1972.
Her body was discovered the following morning by a passer-by in the middle of 16th Sideroad, between Jane Street and Keele Street some 24 kilometres north of where she was last seen.
The cause of death was sustained blunt force trauma to the head.
Despite multiple public appeals and twice offering $50,000 rewards for information about her death and who may be responsible, Leroux’s killer was never found.
Investigators say in 2022 they turned to Investigative Genetic Genealogy (IGG) to help identify suspect DNA which was left at the crime scene.
“A DNA profile was generated and then uploaded to public genealogical databases,” police said in a statement released Wednesday morning. “Through resulting information … investigators were able to identify relatives of the suspect and eventually the offender himself: Bruce Charles Cantelon.”
Cantelon was 26 years old and living in Toronto at the time of Leroux’s disappearance and death. He was known to police for having previously committed several violent offences against women and had been in prison throughout periods of his life due to mental health issues.
Police say Cantelon died by suicide in 1974, 19 months after Leroux’s death.
“If he was alive today, he would be facing a charge of murder,” police acknowledged in the release.
“Unfortunately this news came late as many of our family members have recently passed,” the Leroux family said in a statement. “For over half a century our family has wondered. Getting some answers will never change what happened or bring her back. We hope that more funding will become available for new advancements in DNA geneology so that more grieving families can have some form of clarity.”
