How genetic genealogy helped police find witnesses — but not the suspect — in the Byron Carr murder case
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police → help → case
Court documents reveal new information in cold case murder investigation
WARNING:
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documents → reveal → investigation
This story contains disturbing details.
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story → contain → details
When Charlottetown police first announced a break in a high-profile cold case, they credited investigative genetic genealogy with helping identify a suspect.
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they → announce → suspect
Newly released court documents shed more light on how police set their sights on the man who was charged with first-degree murder before all charges in the case were dropped earlier this month.
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charges → release → case
Byron Carr was found dead in his home on Nov. 12, 1988.
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Carr → find → Nov.
The 36-year-old teacher had been strangled with a towel and stabbed with a kitchen knife.
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teacher → strangle → knife
Carr's wallet was missing, an extinguished cigarette butt had been placed in his navel, and the words "I will kill again" were written on the bedroom wall.
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I → miss → wall
It wasn't until 2024 that Todd Joseph Irving was arrested and charged with first-degree murder and interfering with human remains.
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Irving → arrest → remains
He pleaded not guilty before both charges were withdrawn by the Crown.
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charges → plead → Crown
Court documents made public after the charges were dropped detail how investigative genetic genealogy led police not to their suspect, but to witnesses who more than 30 years later would provide the evidence that led them to make an arrest.
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that → make → arrest
Carr was last seen in downtown Charlottetown in the early morning hours of Nov. 11, 1988.
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Carr → see → Nov.
A neighbour told police she saw two men fleeing from Carr's backyard at about 9 p.m. on Nov. 11.
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men → tell → Nov.
His body was found the following morning.
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body → find → ?
According to an autopsy report, the cause of death was mechanical asphyxia and the knife found in Carr's abdomen was inserted after he was already dead.
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he → accord → abdomen
Byron Carr was found dead in his home on Nov. 12, 1988.
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Carr → find → Nov.
The 36-year-old teacher had been strangled with a towel and stabbed with a kitchen knife.
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teacher → strangle → knife
Police have long said they believed Carr was killed during what began as a consensual sexual encounter and that the killer initially fled but returned hours later with an accomplice to stage the scene: taking Carr's wallet, scrawling the message on the wall and stabbing him.
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killer → say → him
Three DNA profiles were eventually found at the scene:
- Male 1, whose DNA was extracted from the cigarette butt found in Carr's navel, from swabs taken from the body, and from a pair of underwear found wrapped in the bedding underneath the body.
- Female 1, whose DNA was also found on the underwear beneath Carr's body.
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DNA → find → body
That female has never been identified, according to the documents.
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female → identify → documents
- Male 2, whose DNA was found on a pair of socks that had been on top of the trash can in Carr's kitchen after they were sent for analysis in 2009.
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they → find → 2009
According to the documents, it was "common police knowledge" that socks were used by perpetrators at the time to prevent leaving fingerprints.
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socks → accord → fingerprints
It wasn't until May of 2023 that — according to multiple documents submitted in 2026 as part of Irving's application to be released on bail, including an agreed statement of facts — police say the contributor of Male 2's profile was identified thanks to investigative genetic genealogy.
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contributor → accord → genealogy
At the time of Irving's arrest, police said they'd also arrested a second suspect who had been interviewed and released without being charged.
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who → say → suspect
According to that same agreed statement of facts, that was the man whose DNA was found on the socks.
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DNA → accord → socks
CBC News is not naming him because he hasn't been charged with a crime.
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he → name → crime
After 35 years, DNA evidence leads to 1st-degree murder charge in P.E.I. cold case
Genetic genealogy was key to the Byron Carr homicide investigation.
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genealogy → lead → investigation
Here's how it works
There's no mention of a suspected accomplice in any of the many court documents reviewed by CBC News, and there's no indication police believe Male 2 was involved.
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Male → work → News
According to a 2013 interview with CBC News, police said at that time they believed they had identified the person who returned to help stage the scene roughly 12 hours after the murder, but that person died years before he was identified.
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he → accord → murder
Police did not release his name.
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Police → release → name
But Male 2 did work at Pat's Rose and Grey Room at the time, and according to multiple documents including a pre-trial submission outlining the Crown's theory, police believed that Male 1 would be found in the group of people who either worked at or were connected to Pat's Rose and Grey Room.
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who → accord → Rose
That hunch led them to a witness who worked at the bar in the 1980s and said he remembered working with Todd Joseph Irving, who used to use the last name Gallant.
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who → lead → name
That witness said he saw a news broadcast that showed the handwriting left on the wall of Carr's bedroom and noted that it was similar to Irving's.
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it → say → Irving
"[That witness] described the accused as a 'strongly built and violent young man who bragged' about engaging in 'gay bashing' by picking up gay men and beating them up," reads the Crown's theory.
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theory → describe → them
"Todd Gallant told [the witness] that he would meet gay men at night, go with them to a secluded area and then beat them up," reads a separate agreed statement of facts submitted as part of a 2025 court hearing.
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statement → tell → hearing
The words 'I will kill again' were written on the wall of Byron Carr's bedroom.
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I → kill → bedroom
According to the Crown's theory, that interview led police to obtain documents they say contained Irving's handwriting, and investigators concluded there were "striking similarities" between that document and the message left on the wall at the crime scene, "including the circle over the letter 'i,' and the letters 'a' and 'g.'"
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investigators → accord → letter
Police learned that Irving had left P.E.I. in the years after Carr was killed, living in Texas and Arkansas before returning to the Island in 2022, according to the 2025 agreed statement of facts.
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Carr → learn → facts
DNA had a 'high probability' of being a match to Male 1
Weeks after comparing the handwriting samples, the document goes on to say, investigators seized two bags of trash from the black bin placed at the end of Irving's driveway and sent several items — four cigarette butts and two coffee cups — for DNA analysis.
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investigators → have → analysis
In October of 2023, according to the agreed statement of facts and DNA analysis documents reviewed by CBC News, those samples came back as a likely match for the DNA found on Carr's body, as well as the cigarette butt and underwear left at the scene.
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samples → accord → scene
…and 23 more, not listed.
The Aporia
