Nation River slaying victim had webbed feet: police

Police have released an intriguing detail in an effort to identify a slain woman in a 30-year-old cold case— the victim had webbed feet.

The woman is known to police as Jane Doe,but many also call her theNation River Lady.

In 1975, a farmer found her body floating in the Nation River, about 60 kilometres east of Ottawa.

She was clad only in an undershirt,a television cable was wrapped around her neck, her feet were bound with neckties and a tea towel was wrapped around her face.

Police believe she was thrown from the eastbound lanes of Highway 417.

The Ontario Provincial Police criminal investigation branch reopened her case a year ago. At the time, they released a sketch of her face and offered a $50,000 reward for information about her.

Now, police hope the new information will bring in fresh leads.

OPP Det. Insp. Phil George, who is in charge of the case, said someone who was afraid to speak 30 years ago may now be able to do so.

He said he finds it hard to believe that someone didn't know the victim.

"Maybe we just didn't reach out to the right people or they did contact us and we didn't listen," he said this week. "Maybe we just missed it somehow."

Police aren't the only ones searching for clues aboutthecase. The story of the Nation River Lady has touched many people and become an obsession for some.

Among them is Joseph Peltier, who was working as a detective for the OPP's Casselman detachment in 1975 and was first called to the river after the woman's body was discovered.

The subsequent OPP investigation was not able to identify her.

"It was a very frustrating experience— frustrating and heartbreaking, to be quite honest," said Peltier, who is now retired.

Three decades later, Peltier said the case still affects him deeply and he loses sleep wondering who the victim is.

"Having worked so long and so hard and not to be able to identify the person makes it some kind of emotional issue," he said.

'I've been around I don't know how many times just in case[I] might find a piece of evidence.' -Retired OPP detective Joseph Peltier

Peltier often visits the banks of the Nation River in search of answers.

"I've been around I don't know how many times just in case[I] might find a piece of evidence," he said. "One day I might be lucky and find something."

Toronto grave marked with only a number

Lusia Dion of Ottawa is someone else who visits the river often in search of clues about the Nation River Lady.

Dion is a full-time volunteer with the Doe Network, an international organization devoted to identifying missing persons and unidentified bodies.

For the past three years, she has collected documents, newspaper articles and leads about the case that has become the focus of her efforts.

She said she is very close to her family. She wonders about who might be missing the Nation River Lady and feels someone should.

"It almost touches on immortality in some ways because the generations that follow us are the ones who keep our memories alive," she said.

"It's important for us to take up the cause where there may not be a direct relative to do it," she added, noting that she herself has no children.

One of oldest unsolved slayings

In 1987, the Nation River Lady's body was buried in a Toronto cemetery, where it is marked with a numbered metal plate.

Dionsaid shehopes that numbercan one day be replaced with a name.

The Nation River Lady is considered one of the province's oldest unsolvedslayings and is one that Ontario police hope will move forward with the help of the "Resolve" Initiative.

The project has awebsite that lists and describes Ontario's missing persons and unidentified humans remains cases.

According to the Canadian Police Information Centre, more than 8,000 Canadians are listed as missing persons. The Nation River Lady is oneof 400 cases of unidentified human remains across the country.