Drowned military cadet's body exhumed
The body of a 21-year-old cadet from the Royal Military College in Kingston, Ont., was exhumed Thursday morning, as his family sought to prove he didn't commit suicide a year ago.
Joe Grozelle's remains were to undergo a second autopsy at the provincial coroner's office in Toronto before being reburied in a private ceremony Friday.
The results of the more detailed autopsy won't be known for several weeks.
The Grozelle family hired an independent pathologist to attend the autopsy to help reassure the family everything is above board.
- FROM NOV. 11, 2004: Coroner reopens case of drowned cadet
"We need to find out the truth for Joe's sake, the family's sake, and we need to find the answers for the other thousand moms and dads who have students at RMC and are wondering what happened," said Ron Grozelle, the young cadet's father.
A backhoe helped OPP and medical investigators exhume the young man's body from Greenwood Cemetery in Ridgetown, in southwestern Ontario.
"We're looking for marks on the body," said Dr. Jim Cairns, Ontario's deputy chief coroner. "We're looking for trace evidence that may not have been noted the first time around."
Well-liked cadet vanished last October
Grozelle was an officer cadet at RMC. He was well-liked, a top student and a star athlete.
One night in October of 2003, he took a break from studying and never returned.
Hundreds of people joined in the search, meticulously combing nearby woods, but found nothing.
- FROM OCT. 27, 2003: Massive search for RMC cadet in Kingston
Grozelle's body washed up three weeks later on the shores of the Cataraqui River near Lake Ontario.
The original investigation was in the hands of the Department of National Defence, which ruled the death a suicide by drowning.
But Ron Grozelle never believed his son could have killed himself.
His lobbying led to the Ontario Provincial Police launching a second, independent investigation in March of this year.
They now have what they are calling "new information," without being specific.
"The options of accidental death, self-inflicted death, foul play â we have all the options open to us and we're not ruling any of them out," said lead investigator Det. Ian Grant.