Unidentified body exhumed believed to have been a victim of plane crash 51 years ago

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A family in the United States has begun the agonizing wait to see if the remains of a John Doe exhumed from Lakeview Cemetery in Leamington on Wednesday are those of his father, who died in a plane crash 51 years ago.

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“We’re waiting to see,” said Anita Wilson, daughter-in-law of James Wilson, who died in the crash in 1970, from her home near Boston, Massachusetts.

“My husband is very upset today,” Anita said of her husband, Mark, who was 16 when his father died. “I’m sure they are very torn as well,” she said of Mark’s four siblings. “I couldn’t sleep last night because of how this will affect everyone.”

An excavator was used to begin excavating plot L33-3-4-17. The workers then stood on the grave removing the rest of the earth by hand.

The skeleton remains were found in a wooden box that was disintegrating and broke when it was removed from the grave, Anita said, police said Wednesday.

The remains were placed in a body bag, placed on a stretcher and loaded into a vehicle for transport to the Ontario Forensic Pathology Service in Toronto.

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Norfolk County OPP Det. Sergeant. Michael Wilfong was at the scene along with representatives from the Ontario Forensic Pathology Service, the Ontario Office of the Chief Medical Examiner and the City of Leamington.

The family, who live in the United States, were not present.

James Wilson, who was the CEO of McDowell-Wellman Engineering Company, was flying from Cleveland to Detroit on January 28, 1970 for a new building opening ceremony.

TAG Airlines Flight 730, a nine-passenger DeHavilland Dove, took off from Burke Lakefront Airport in Cleveland at 7:38 a.m.

Eleven minutes later, it disappeared from the radar. There was no distress signal.

All nine passengers were killed when the plane crashed into the ice on Lake Erie.

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Wilson was the only one whose body was never found.

He left a wife and five children, the youngest only seven years old.

Research conducted by OPP Det. From Norfolk County. Const. Jon Van Brugge linked the John Doe, found at Point Pelee two months after the accident, with James Wilson. The descriptions and dental records of the two men appear to match. An autopsy performed when John Doe was found determined that he had drowned.

Ontario’s chief coroner, Dr. Dirk Huyer, wrote to Anita two weeks ago to tell her that they would exhume John Doe and examine the remains for DNA and try to identify the body.

The bones will be placed and cataloged to document what was found, said Stephanie Rea, a spokeswoman for the Ontario Forensic Pathology Service. They will then be examined by a pathologist and forensic anthropologist to determine the condition. A piece of bone will be chosen to extract the DNA.

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That bone will be sent to the Forensic Science Center, also in Toronto, which will try to extract the DNA and compare it with that of the family.

The ability to extract DNA depends on how long the person has been dead, the condition of the body before embalming, and whether it was embalmed, Rea said.

“There are so many variables,” he said. “It’s very difficult to determine what you may or may not have before looking at it.”

It could take at least 60 days to get a response, he said.

If the remains are identified as James Wilson’s, they will be released to the family. If they are not, they will be returned to parcel L33-3-4-17.

“That is our goal, to match the DNA with that of the family,” Wilfong said. “We are very hopeful that the family can finally get an answer and bring their loved one home.”

“I have a feeling it’s him,” said Anita, who began trying to find her father-in-law several years ago.

“If it is him, we will come to Canada to collect the body,” he said.

They’ll drive, he said. Your husband does not like to fly.

They also want to thank the detectives who linked the cases.

And, Anita said, “I want to see Point Pelee, where she washed up.”

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