The Oswego County Sheriff's Office announced on Tuesday that they have finally identified the skeletal remains that washed up on the shores of Lake Ontario in 1992 as Vincent Stack, a man from Buffalo who went missing in Niagara Falls State Park in 1990. The remains, which were badly decomposed and mostly skeletal, were found near what is now a Novelis aluminum plant and were determined to have been dead between six months and five years before their discovery.

Despite previous attempts to identify the remains, it wasn't until 2022 that the sheriff's office renewed efforts to solve the case. A new DNA sample was obtained from the remains and compared to unsolved cases in both the United States and Canada by the Niagara Regional Police Service. In February 2024, the authorities were able to match the DNA sample with genetic material collected from Stack's family, confirming his identity.

Stack's family was notified of the identification, bringing closure to a case that had remained unsolved for over three decades. Police believe that Stack went over Niagara Falls and his remains drifted approximately 15 miles to the mouth of the Niagara River before traveling over 130 miles across Lake Ontario to wash up on the shores of Oswego.

The sheriff's office is now working to identify other unidentified remains cases in the area, including a similar case from 1983. The use of DNA technology and cross-border collaboration between law enforcement agencies played a crucial role in solving this long-standing mystery.