Remains identified as Tennessee woman nearly 50 years after she was found in a Canadian river

ONTARIO, Canada — Human remains found floating in a river in Canada in 1975 have been identified as a businesswoman from Tennessee, officials say.

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In a news release, the Ontario Provincial Police Department said that a woman’s remains were found in the Nation River by a bridge near Highway 417 in Casselman, Ontario on May 3, 1975.

The woman was known as the “Nation River Lady,” according to CNN.

A DNA profile of the remains was established at the end of 2019 and was obtained by the Centre of Forensic Sciences, police say. The DNA profile was submitted to a specialized lab in the United States. Genome sequencing was done and samples were matched to two family members.

The following year, the woman was identified 47 years later as Jewell “Lalla” Langford, 48. Police say she is believed to be the first case in Canada to be identified from forensic genealogy.

In March 2022, her remains were sent to the U.S. for a memorial and burial, police say, according to CNN.

The DNA Doe Project said that Langford was strangled to death with a flat plastic-covered television cable, according to CNN. Her hands as well as her ankles were found bound with neckties and her face had a towel wrapped with a towel.

The DNA Doe Project is a nonprofit organization that works to identify John and Jane Does through genetic genealogy. They assisted police with Langford’s case, according to CNN.

Langford was born in March 1927, police say.

Langford was a business owner in Jackson, Tennessee. She owned a spa with her ex-husband, police said. She never returned home after traveling to Montréal in April 1975. Her family in Tennessee reported her missing.

“For 47 years, Jewell Langford’s family did not know where she was or if they would ever learn what happened to her. As science and technology progressed over the years and with continued collaboration by all investigating organizations, we were finally able to answer those questions. Our work is about finding the truth for families like Jewell’s and never giving up regardless of the passage of time,” Dr. Dirk Huyer, Chief Coroner for Ontario, said in the news release.

Rodney Nichols, 81, was charged with her murder last year, according to the news release per CNN. The two were known to each other, but their relationship was not clarified by investigators.