Police update 1999 cold case homicide of Toronto woman

Police in Niagara provided new details about the 1999 death of a 26-year-old Toronto woman, concluding that a man who is now deceased would have faced charges in her alleged murder.

Officers were first called to the area of Victoria Avenue near Eighth Avenue in Lincoln, Ont. at approximately 5 p.m. on May 8, 1999, following reports of a partially dressed woman’s body in a roadside ditch. 

The investigation revealed that the woman was the victim of a homicide. She was subsequently identified as 26-year-old Nadine Gurczenski of Toronto.

At the time, police had collected DNA evidence from the victim, but no link was found. No suspects were identified, and police said the case remained unsolved until advancements in DNA technology and the use of Investigative Genetic Genealogy resulted in the identification of a suspect believed to be responsible for Gurczenski’s murder.

Primary suspect died in 2017: police

In an update from the Niagara Regional Police Service, officers determined that Joseph Archie “Raymond” Brousseau, formerly of New Liskeard, Ont., would have been arrested and charged with second-degree murder as part of the investigation.

Brousseau, who was 34 years old at the time of the incident, died in 2017. Police did not disclose how the man passed away.

Homicide detectives learned that Brousseau was a truck driver who travelled extensively throughout Canada and the U.S. for work and had ties to Quebec.

Gurczenski’s husband Paul, daughter Heather, son Nash, and the rest of her family issued a statement through the Niagara Regional Police Service, wanting to recognize the Toronto woman “as an incredibly important part of our family” who was “more than a news headline.”

“She was a beautiful young woman inside and out, mother, wife, and now grandmother who had her whole life ripped away from her and everyone who loved her,” the written statement reads. “She is very loved and missed every day by her whole family, and we will always make sure her memory lives on forever.”

The family thanked the Niagara Regional Police Service and members of the public for dedicating their time to solving her case.

“We are grateful for the new technologies that weren’t available years ago. You have brought our family peace and closure.”