Scarborough Backyard Bound Execution Breakthrough: Cold Case Unit Unseals Genetic Genealogy Advances in 2006 Murder of Patrick Santos

SCARBOROUGH — The Toronto Police Service Cold Case Section has convened a major press briefing to unseal critical forensic breakthroughs in the unsolved execution of 21-year-old Patrick Santos, who was found bound, beaten, and suffocated in the backyard of his father’s Scarborough residence 20 years ago.

The update, presented by Detective Sergeant Stephen Smith of the Homicide and Missing Persons Unit – Cold Case Section at Toronto Police Headquarters on Thursday morning, July 30, 2026, marks a pivotal turn utilizing investigative genetic genealogy to identify the suspect who left DNA at the crime scene.

The Bridlington Street Backyard Assassination

The murder file dates back to the early morning of Sunday, September 17, 2006. Patrick Santos had spent the night at a downtown Toronto nightclub and spoke to his girlfriend on his phone at 4:30 a.m. while heading home. Hours later, at 7:20 a.m., his father discovered Santos’ lifeless body on the back patio of his home on Bridlington Street in Scarborough.

Santos’ hands and feet were bound, duct tape was wrapped tightly around his head, and forensic pathologists determined the cause of death was physical trauma and asphyxiation.

Genetic Genealogy Narrows Suspect Family Tree

While the killer’s DNA profile yielded no hits in the National DNA Data Bank for years, TPS Cold Case detectives uploaded the genetic markers into public databases to map family lineages. Det.-Sgt. Stephen Smith’s announcement at Police HQ aims to mobilize public assistance to isolate the specific individual linked to the crime scene.