00:00 Probably this area right here.
00:11 In the Kangaroo Island bush just over 40 years ago, teenager Andrew Bennett made a shocking
00:17 discovery.
00:18 Mr Bennett and his friend found a man's body only metres from a main road.
00:23 It had gone unnoticed for up to five years.
00:28 It was just skeletal remains with clothing on it really.
00:34 So it's very different to what it looked in 1983?
00:37 Oh yeah, yeah.
00:39 Senior Constable Trevor Snyder is examining the case as part of new investigations into
00:44 15 unidentified remains.
00:47 Unfortunately this person, the identification, despite a lot of rumours circulating on Kangaroo
00:52 Island was never determined.
00:56 When police hit a dead end, samples were taken to the National Forensic Testing Centre in
01:01 Canberra.
01:02 We essentially wanted to create a one stop shop of forensic techniques where we could
01:06 collaborate with the investigators to try and see if we could resolve those cases using
01:11 the tools available.
01:13 Jodie Ward runs the National DNA Program and is working to give names to up to 750 unidentified
01:19 human remains across Australia.
01:22 One of the newest DNA matching techniques is known as Forensic Investigative Genetic
01:26 Genealogy.
01:27 It took new advances in DNA matching to finally catch him in 2018.
01:33 The technique is known for helping solve the infamous Golden State Killer case in the US.
01:39 It involves DNA being analysed and compared to samples on publicly available genealogy
01:44 websites such as GEDmatch and Ancestry.com.
01:48 What this technology allows us to do is link to those more distant cousins and then build
01:54 back their family trees to the present day.
01:57 Then for the first time in Australia, Jodie Ward and her team made a breakthrough.
02:02 We had two high confidence genetic matches.
02:07 That then opened up and rejuvenated the investigation.
02:13 New South Wales man James Hardy's older brother vanished from the Sydney suburb of Enmore
02:18 in the 1970s.
02:19 I had a lefties wallet and car keys.
02:22 It was a strange set up, you know.
02:24 I never got answers.
02:26 He heard nothing for 45 years until New South Wales police told him to call Trevor Snyder.
02:31 When he identified that his brother William was missing was really amazing.
02:37 We had solved a missing persons case.
02:40 Further testing showed James Hardy was a sibling match to the DNA taken from the Kangaroo Island
02:45 body confirming William Hardy as the missing man.
02:49 I was dumbfounded.
02:50 I could not believe how they found me.
02:54 It's incredible.
02:56 To achieve this result is outstanding, not only certainly for the police but also them
02:59 to be able to provide some answers to the family after such a long period of time is
03:03 very rewarding.
03:05 For the police and the family, one key question remains unanswered and that is just how did
03:12 William Hardy end up here on Kangaroo Island so far from home?
03:19 Police now feel they'll soon be able to close the case and reunite William Hardy with his
03:23 family.
03:24 It's given dad closure now that he can finally lay his brother to rest.
03:31 It's now hoped that countless more cold cases can be solved.
03:34 [BLANK_AUDIO]
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