Toronto Police Solve 90-Year-Old Mary McLeod Moffat Murder With DNA
Updated
Updated · CBS New York · Jul 28
Toronto Police Solve 90-Year-Old Mary McLeod Moffat Murder With DNA
3 articles · Updated · CBS New York · Jul 28
Summary
Mary McLeod Moffat, a Scottish immigrant believed killed around April 1936, was identified from remains found beneath a Toronto demolition site in 1995, closing one of the city's oldest murder mysteries.
A 2022 case review revived the investigation after earlier DNA efforts failed; investigators used investigative genetic genealogy to recover a profile from severely degraded remains and match it to relatives.
Toronto police said Moffat had been intentionally buried and struck at least six times with a hammer-like weapon, and later concluded her husband, Andrew Lloyd Moffat, likely killed her before dying in 1985.
Police said the same DNA-led approach also identified Patsy Flora Lagarde in a separate 2004 Toronto-area cold case, underscoring how genetic genealogy is reshaping long-unsolved death investigations.