Samuel Lottery, a 17-year-old Black male, vanished in London, Ontario, in January 1996, setting in motion a case that would remain unresolved for decades. Contemporary reporting places his disappearance on January 18, when he failed to return to his family’s home in the White Oaks area. He was reported missing to the London Police Service the following day.
The police service’s current cold-case record lists January 22, 1996, as his date of death, although the precise circumstances and timing of his killing have never been publicly established.
Lottery was a London high-school student who was remembered as happy-go-lucky and interested in electronics, basketball and hip-hop. His disappearance soon took an ominous turn. In the months after he vanished, someone began sending communications containing information about him. In March 1996, a letter was discovered at the Pillar of Fire Church at 27 Gunn Street, a church attended by members of the Lottery family. Along with information concerning Lottery, the letter contained a photograph of him that investigators determined had been taken from his wallet. Earlier reporting on the investigation said the communication directed attention toward the Thames River as the place where his remains might be found.
Another handwritten letter arrived at the Lottery family home in November 1996. Police have never publicly released its full contents, but they said it contained additional information relevant to the investigation. Investigators were particularly interested in the distinctive stationery on which the message had been written. The paper contained unusual images, and police later released an image of the stationery while withholding the actual text, apparently hoping that someone might recognize it or know who had access to it. The existence of the letters, together with the photograph removed from Lottery’s wallet, suggested that whoever was communicating possessed knowledge that went beyond what an uninvolved stranger would ordinarily have known.
For more than a year, Lottery remained missing. Then, in May 1997, human bones were discovered along the Thames River south of Blackfriars Bridge. Historical reporting described the initial discovery as an arm bone found by a man walking his dog, after which additional remains were recovered. Forensic testing eventually identified the remains as belonging to Lottery. His family buried the remains that had been recovered by June 2000, but the discoveries were not over.
In November 2003, a human jawbone was found near the same general section of the Thames River. Nearly five years later, in April 2008, a human skull was discovered on the bank of the river near Guy Lombardo Bridge. DNA testing ultimately established that the bones, jawbone and skull all belonged to Lottery. The recovery of the skull prompted additional forensic examination and renewed scrutiny of a disappearance that had already remained unresolved for more than a decade.
The case was eventually treated formally as a homicide. In October 2009, London police publicly announced that investigators believed Lottery had been killed. The London Police Service now states unequivocally that its investigation determined his death was a homicide. Authorities have not publicly disclosed a specific method of killing, and the available police information does not establish exactly where he was killed or how his remains came to be in the Thames River.
Investigators have said the killing was not believed to have been random. Information gathered during the investigation led police to conclude that Lottery was specifically targeted by one or more people who knew him. Police have also stated that they believe multiple people possess information about what happened. Over the years investigators received tips from the public, but police said they still required more detailed information to determine who was responsible and bring the case to a conclusion.
Despite the letters, the recovery of Lottery’s remains and the conclusion that his killer or killers were known to him, authorities have not publicly identified anyone as the person responsible for the murder. No publicly available police record indicates that an arrest has been made, anyone has been charged, or a suspect has gone to trial or been convicted in connection with his death. The homicide remains on the London Police Service’s unsolved-murders list, with investigators continuing to appeal to those who know what happened to come forward.
