A two month long billboard campaign aimed at solving a 44-year-old double murder cold case, is coming to an end.
The Ontario Provincial Police launched the campaign on May 31 with three billboards and five bus signs posted around the City. The ads asked the public to come forward with any information they may have about the death of Jane Bernard, 43, and her acquaintance Doreen Hardy,18,. The women were last seen getting into a Pontiac car on Cumberland Street on Aug. 27, 1966. Days later, the bodies of both women were found near each other in Shuniah Township. They had been strangled to death. Families of the two women were on hand when the OPP announced the campaign. Sargent Shelley Garr said the campaign generated 15 tips that police didn't have before.
"Those tips were investigated and some are still being investigated," Garr said adding two full-time investigators are on the case.
A $50,000 reward is being offered to anyone with information leading to an arrest in the case. Officers believe a Caucasian male now in his 60s or 70s is a potential suspect but say more people could have been involved. The billboards will come down Saturday.
