The identity of a man who died by a Langley river 40 years ago was lost, found, and lost again over the decades.
The mystery began when the body of a short, slight man was found face-down in the Salmon River on March 23, 1979, not far from the village of Fort Langley.
An autopsy revealed that the man had died of a heart problem, meaning the death was not suspicious. But he had died without any identification on him, and police tried repeatedly to find his family over two decades.
All they had to go on was his description. He was believed to be in his late 30s, stood 5’4″ tall, weighed 140 pounds, and had short, reddish-brown hair, brown eyes, and a beard.
With the 20-year anniversary of his death approaching in 1999, the Langley RCMP and the BC Coroner’s Service put out another appeal for information through the media.
This time it bore fruit.
The missing man was identified as James Gordon Davies, 44. He had lost contact with his family, but 20 years later they finally received word what had happened. The identification came in late April of 1999.
However, another BC Coroner’s push for information on unidentified bodies released this week revealed that Davies’ case hadn’t been officially closed.
The Coroner’s Service released the Unidentified Human Remains Interactive Viewer on Wednesday. Anyone in the world can view the website and see some details including the location, date of discovery, and some identifying information about those who have never been named.
There are dozens of dots in the Lower Mainland and Fraser Highway, many along rivers or deep in the woods, most dating to before DNA testing was common.
Among those dots on the map was one on Langley’s Salmon River, marked March 23, 1979.
The B.C. Coroner’s Service still had Davies’ body marked as unidentified, and he remained an officially open file with the local Mounties. An officer was still assigned to the cold case.
An old newspaper file on the 1999 announcement cleared up the confusion.
Cpl. Craig van Herk, a spokesperson for the Langley RCMP, said it’s unclear what happened, but somehow the notification that Davies’ had been identified was never registered to the original file.
It may have something to do with the fact that the file has migrated from a 1979 paper file through multiple computer systems over the last 40 years, van Herk said.
The RCMP is now closing the file again, and the B.C. Coroner’s Service will be removing the listing from their files and the Interactive Viewer.
Coroner’s Service spokesperson Andy Watson said the service appreciates all tips. They’re already getting some since the viewer went live this week.
“We are getting emails into our Special Investigations inbox,” Watson said.
READ MORE: Map charts unidentified human remains from Port Hardy to Terrace
