RCMP Use Forensic Genealogy to Connect Human Remains to Alberta Woman

The RCMP logo is seen outside Royal Canadian Mounted Police "E" Division Headquarters, in Surrey, B.C., on April 13, 2018. (Darryl Dyck/The Canadian Press)

Mounties in Saskatchewan have used forensic genealogy to identify human remains found in a field as belonging to an Alberta woman who had not been seen for more than two years.

RCMP say a human skull was found in Morris, a rural municipality southeast of Saskatoon, by people looking for shed antlers in 2021.

The following year, a forensic genealogy firm determined the remains were from someone with close relatives in Red Deer.

Mounties say it was later confirmed the remains were those of Kassandra Jorquera, a 27-year-old from the central Alberta city.

Mounties say the death is suspicious and her connection to Saskatchewan is still unknown.

Sgt. Ryan Boogaard, with Saskatchewan RCMP’s major crimes unit, says investigators are looking for people who may have seen or spoken with Jorquera in the weeks leading up to her death.

“Did you know Kassandra? Did you speak with her or encounter her in the weeks after New Year’s 2021?” Boogaard said in a news release.

“You may have a piece of the puzzle that will help us determine what happened to her in those final weeks of her life.”

RCMP said Jorquera frequented Red Deer and was seen in the city the month before her remains were found. She also visited Grande Prairie in northwest Alberta periodically.

Mounties said Jorquera had not been reported missing.

“Since February 2021, we’ve worked diligently to identify the person located deceased. We now know it’s Kassandra,” Boogaard said.

“Our work continues: we need to retrace all of her steps in January 2021.”