DNA technology helps identify New Brunswick woman decades after death

In 2025, a New Brunswick woman whose remains were discovered in Ontario was identified decades after her death through the use of advanced DNA technology. The discovery, made during the demolition of a Niagara Falls home in 2023, has provided investigators with new leads in the homicide case and highlighted the growing role of genetic genealogy in solving cold cases.

Brenda Marie LeBlanc's death was ruled a homicide, but police initially lacked the means to determine her identity. After trying every conventional investigative method, investigators turned to investigative genetic genealogy, a technique that utilizes DNA from remains to locate biological relatives through genetic profiles voluntarily uploaded for law enforcement searches.

The breakthrough came when a familial DNA link was established, later confirmed through direct DNA comparison. Kelly Miles, a forensic biology professor at the University of New Brunswick, emphasized that this technology is transforming criminal investigations, allowing perpetrators to be convicted based on DNA from third or fourth cousins who have uploaded genetic profiles without their consent.

The rapid advancement of forensic science has made it possible to generate DNA profiles from increasingly small and degraded samples, with biological evidence remaining usable for decades. While the use of investigative genetic genealogy has raised privacy concerns, Miles believes the public safety benefits outweigh any loss of privacy.

The case has also prompted the RCMP to use the technique in another nearly two-decade-old investigation. Despite answering who Brenda Marie LeBlanc was, investigators continue to search for answers about how she died and who was responsible, urging anyone with information to come forward.