A newborn baby boy whose body was found in 1978 in Abbotsford is among 200 cold-case files listed on an interactive map launched this week by the BC Coroners Service.
The map charts unsolved cases involving human remains found throughout B.C., dating back to 1953.
The Coroners Service released the map on Wednesday in hopes of trying to obtain information that could lead to identifying the unknown individuals.
The only local case on the map took place in the former district of Matsqui (which amalgamated with the city of Abbotsford in 1995) and involved the body of a newborn baby boy being found on Oct. 26, 1978.
The location is shown on Valley Road, just west of the Abbotsford-Mission Highway. That area is now the location of the Abbotsford-Mission Recycling Program.
READ MORE: Map charts unsolved human remains cases from Port Hardy to Terrace
An article in the Abbotsford, Sumas and Matsqui News from that time indicates that the body was discovered in what was then the McCallum Road garbage dump.
“Wrapped in a plastic bag, the male infant was found by the operator of a bulldozer shifting garbage dumped at the sanitary landfill site in Matsqui’s industrial park,” the article stated.
“A police spokesman said identification of the body has been hampered because of damage caused by the heavy equipment.”
The article stated that the Matsqui RCMP were investigating to determine how the body got to the dump and who the parent(s) were.
The only follow-up article indicated that there had been no new developments in the case.
Anyone with information about the case – or any of the cases on the map – is asked to contact the Special Investigations Unit at bccs.siu@gov.bc.ca and cite the number indicated on the map. (In the Abbotsford case, the number is 1978-CFU-007.)