By Canadian Press

Vancouver police use DNA to identify child victims in ‘Babes in the Woods’ cold case

Feb 15, 2022 | 12:42 PM

VANCOUVER — The child victims in what police say is Vancouver’s oldest unsolved murder case have been identified as two young brothers. 

Police say David and Derek D’Alton were six and seven when they were bludgeoned with a hatchet and left in Vancouver’s Stanley Park in a case known as the “Babes in the Woods.”

Their bodies were discovered in 1953 under a woman’s fur coat by a groundskeeper who was clearing brush near Beaver Lake in the park. 

Police say the case has haunted investigators for decades and the breakthrough came after the department partnered with a U.S.-based forensic genetic genealogy company.

They say Redgrave Research Forensic Services compared DNA taken from the victims’ bones with genetic information submitted by people to ancestry databases that are used to reconstruct family trees. 

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Police say the person who likely killed the boys was a close family member who died about 25 years ago, but given the passage of time and lack of remaining DNA evidence it is unlikely the killer will be confirmed.

“Although significant folklore has surrounded this case for years, we must not forget that these were real children who died a tragic and heartbreaking death,” Insp. Dale Weidman said at a news conference Tuesday. 

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 15, 2022.

The Canadian Press