Suspect identified in cold-case slaying of Nadine Gurczenski: Police

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There won’t be an arrest, but Niagara Regional Police believe they may have finally gotten some closure for the family of the late Nadine Gurczenski.

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Niagara police gave an update on the 1999 slaying of the Toronto woman, saying investigators used investigative genetic genealogy to identify a suspect — Joseph Archie “Raymond” Brousseau, formerly of New Liskeard, Ont., who was 34 years old when Gurczenski was killed.

Police said Brousseau died in 2017 and would have been charged with second-degree murder if he were alive today. He was employed as a truck driver and travelled extensively throughout Canada and the U.S. for work, police said, while also having ties to Quebec.

“Through the tireless work of detectives, we are able to offer some measure of closure for Nadine’s grieving family,” deputy chief Todd Waselovich said in a news release. “While nothing can ease their pain, the determination of our detectives is evident in identifying the person responsible for her murder.

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“Investigations such as these take a toll on our members, as they carry that weight with them in the search for justice. We want to thank Nadine’s family for their patience and co-operation as we continued to seek out answers.”

It was more than 25 years ago — on May 8, 1999, at about 5 p.m. — when Niagara police responded to Victoria Ave. near Eighth Ave. in Lincoln, west of St. Catharines, for reports of a partly dressed woman’s body in a roadside ditch.

Investigators were able to identify Gurczenski, who was 26 at the time, as the victim and deemed her death a homicide. DNA evidence was collected from Gurczenski, police said, but it could not be linked to an individual at the time.

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No suspects had been identified — until now.

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“We want to recognize that Nadine was an incredibly important part of our family,” said a statement from Gurczenski’s family, including her widower Paul, daughter Heather and son Nash. “She meant more than a news headline. She was a beautiful young woman inside and out, mother, wife and now grandmother who had her whole life ripped away from her and everyone who loved her.

“She is very loved and missed every day by her whole family and we will always make sure her memory lives on forever.”

The Gurczenski family thanked Niagara police and “anyone else who has helped us through the years.

“We are grateful for the new technologies that weren’t available years ago,” they said. “You have brought our family peace and closure.”

Anyone with more information is asked to contact 905-688-4111, option 3, Ext. 1009060. Anonymous information can also be sent to Crime Stoppers of Niagara online or by calling 1-800-222-8477.

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