Ottawa, Ontario — Ottawa police have made an arrest in connection to the decades-old homicide of Christopher Smith, the force announced in a news conference.
While walking home with his cousin on April 12, 1996, 22-year-old Smith was fatally stabbed several times during a confrontation with an assailant on Portage Bridge between Gatineau and Ottawa.
Smith's cousin flagged down passing vehicles for help and emergency responders soon arrived. The 22-year-old was later pronounced dead at a Gatineau hospital.
The attacker suffered his own injuries, leaving a trail of blood to a downtown Ottawa phone booth, where he called for an ambulance. All police had was the DNA they collected from the phone booth and a recording of the 911 call.
Nearly 30 years later, Lawrence Diehl, 73, was arrested and charged with second-degree murder in relation to Smith's death.
