News clippings dating from 1977 of the cold case. For more than 44 years, the victim’s identity – and, accordingly, the identity of his killer or killers – has been unknown.John Ulan/The Globe and Mail
It was one of Alberta’s darkest mysteries. A man tortured, mutilated, and shot, his body wrapped in a bedsheet and packed in lye, stuffed headlong into a septic tank in a farmer’s field outside Edmonton, where it was discovered by chance in April of 1977.
For more than 44 years, the victim’s identity – and, accordingly, the identity of his killer or killers – has been unknown.
But on Wednesday, Alberta RCMP announced investigators had used genetic genealogy technology to identify the victim as Gordon Edwin Sanderson, or Gordie. Police say he was from Manitoba but had been living in Edmonton, and would have been about 25 years old when he died.
“The use of the term ‘cold case’ is a little bit of a misnomer in that investigations never end, and with the new information being received, the advent of new technologies, this is really proof that we keep working,” said Staff Sergeant Jason Zazulak, during an online press conference Wednesday afternoon.
He said he expects to see the genetic genealogy technology and technique – which became broadly known after it was used to identify and charge the notorious Golden State Killer in California – employed in more investigations in the future.
The Alberta RCMP Missing Person Unit (MPU) and the Historical Homicide Unit’s (HHU) investigation into the 1977 homicide of an unidentified male continues. The male, found in April of 1977 in a septic tank on an abandoned farm near Tofield, has recently been identified as Gordon Edwin Sanderson of Edmonton. He was identified through the use of the novel forensic technique of Genetic Genealogy.Courtesy of Alberta RCMP
Mr. Sanderson’s remains were found off a well-used dirt road just west of the town of Tofield on April 13, 1977, by a farmer looking to reuse a pump from an old septic tank on his property.
Through the years, investigators painted a detailed picture of the victim: An adult man with black hair, dressed in jeans, a blue Levis shirt with snap buttons, and grey work socks. News reports from the time described police poring over missing persons files from around the country, and contacting every dentist in the province to check dental records.
Investigators received hundreds of leads through the years, and, given the gruesome details released about the man’s death, there was much speculation about what happened – whether the murder had been motivated by a bad debt, a drug deal gone wrong, or a love triangle, and whether the victim and whoever had killed him were local to the area, or had come from elsewhere.
RCMP Corporal EF Lammerts told the Edmonton Journal in May, 1977, the case was “certainly one of the most bizarre, disgusting and baffling murder cases I’ve ever worked on.”
Some referred to the unknown victim as “Septic Tank Sam.”
The Alberta RCMP Missing Person Unit (MPU) and the Historical Homicide Unit’s (HHU) investigation into the 1977 homicide of an unidentified male continues. The male, found in April of 1977 in a septic tank on an abandoned farm near Tofield, has recently been identified as Gordon Edwin Sanderson of Edmonton. He was identified through the use of the novel forensic technique of Genetic Genealogy.Courtesy of Alberta RCMP
The remains were examined multiple times, and were exhumed twice. On one occasion, the skull and bones were sent to specialists in Oklahoma City, where a sketch was made of the victim’s face and released to the public. In 2000, a 3-D reconstruction was done by a forensic artist working with the Medical Examiner’s office in Alberta, and also released in case someone recognized him.
But those efforts and others – including a 2019 attempt to identify the remains with a Canadian DNA database for missing persons – were unsuccessful, and the victim remained unidentified until police sent a DNA sample to Othram Labs in Woodlands, Texas, where it was uploaded into a public genealogy website and matched with a relative who had entered their profile in the system.
“We were fortunate that someone within Gordie’s family had participated and had consented to having their DNA profile shared and matched against others,” Mr. Zazulak said. That led investigators to Mr. Sanderson’s sister, Joyce, and allowed them to confirm his identity.
Mr. Zazulak said Mr. Sanderson’s sister reported him missing in the early 1980s but never heard back, and RCMP aren’t able to confirm where the report was made, or “if a report was generated or received.”
He said in the course of the investigation, RCMP were able to inform Joyce about the fate of her other brother, who had also passed away, and a memorial is now planned for both men.
He said Mr. Sanderson had a tough life and was separated from his family during the Sixties Scoop, and grew up in foster care. Mr. Zazulak said he also had a daughter.
Mr. Zazulak said investigators believe Mr. Sanderson was killed by associates “involved in various criminal acts in the Edmonton area,” possibly with links to organized crime. He said they are actively investigating, and are asking anyone with information to call RCMP or their local police.
“It’s an interesting investigation in that although it’s over 40 years old, the true homicide investigation only began when we identified Gordie,” he said. “So timeline wise, it really is in its early stages.”
The Alberta RCMP Missing Person Unit (MPU) and the Historical Homicide Unit’s (HHU) investigation into the 1977 homicide of an unidentified male continues. The male, found in April of 1977 in a septic tank on an abandoned farm near Tofield, has recently been identified as Gordon Edwin Sanderson of Edmonton. He was identified through the use of the novel forensic technique of Genetic Genealogy.Courtesy of Alberta RCMP
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