By Gerald V. Paul

Toronto Police have exhumed the body of Jamaica-born 15-year-old Dwayne Biddersingh, who in 1992 fell from the 22ndstorey balcony of the family’s Parkdale apartment in what was deemed a suicide at the time.

“We just want to be thorough. (An exhumation) is certainly rare,” Det-Sgt. Steve Ryan said.

The decision to exhume Biddersingh follows the death of his 17 year-old sister Melonie, whose body was found inside of a burnt suitcase in 1994. Her body bore signs of torture.

The father of the teenagers, Everton Biddersingh, and their stepmother, Elaine Biddersingh, were charged in 2012 with first-degree murder in Melonie’s death.

At the Toronto morgue, Kathy Gruspier , a forensic anthropologist who specializes in bones, along with the forensic pathologist who conducted the original autopsy, will try to determine whether Dwayne Biddersingh was subject to any trauma before his death.

That would be important for the police investigation in regards to what was found on his sister’s remains. Multiple injuries were found on Melonie’s skeletal structure after Gruspier was brought on the case more than 10 years after Melonie’s body was found.

The mystery still remains whether Dwayne jumped that day or something more sinister occurred.

Gruspier noted as a body decomposes, evidence of healing trauma are lost, but below the surface, other signs, such as fractures, remain.
Melonie was called an unknown victim after her body was found in 1994, and it took police until last year to positively identify her.
The teen’s fingerprints, handprints and footprints were burned off. Police said the victim had also been starved and beaten.

It was only in 2012 that the police said “a person of conscience” called in to say who the victim was. The probe led police to Jamaica where they found the girl’s biological mother, and a DNA test confirmed her identity.

The girl’s mother believed she was alive all these years later, as she had sent her to her father in Toronto for a better life.
Nobody ever reported her missing.

Dwayne was also sent to live with his father prior to Melonie moving to Canada.

Dwayne’s death in 1992 was ruled as a suicide, but the investigation into his death was re-opened in 2012 because of the circumstances of his sister’s death.