Police in eastern Ontario have found a third set of human remains on the same rural property near Smiths Falls in less than a year, a grim sequence of discoveries that has left the small community searching for answers and gripped by unease. Investigators have been combing the site for clues as the case grows steadily darker.
The latest remains have been identified as those of Lawrence Bertrim, a 44-year-old man who was last seen in 2022. His disappearance had gone unresolved for years, and the confirmation that his body was found on the property brought a painful mix of grief and, for some in the area, a measure of relief that at least one long-standing question had finally been answered.
The remains were located on a property on Kelly Jordan Road, the same address where two other sets of human remains had already been recovered. For a community where many families have deep roots, the idea that three people who vanished could be connected to a single rural property has been difficult to absorb.
According to authorities, the cause of Bertrim's death has not yet been determined, and no charges have been laid in connection with his case at this stage. A reward of 50,000 dollars remains on offer for information leading to a conviction, underscoring how much investigators still hope to learn about what happened to him.
The Bertrim discovery follows a second set of remains found on the property earlier in the summer, which were identified as those of Robert Lambert, a 75-year-old man from Montague Township who had been reported missing back in 2018. That case, too, had lingered for years before the property yielded its answer.
The first person whose remains were tied to the property was Robbie Thomson of Smiths Falls, who disappeared in 2023. In connection with his death, four people are facing charges, including three who are accused of first-degree murder, marking the most advanced strand of the wider investigation so far.
The investigation is being carried out by the Lanark County OPP and the Smiths Falls Police Service, under the direction of the OPP Criminal Investigation Branch. Officers have returned repeatedly to the property as forensic work continues and as they try to establish how three missing people came to be found at the same location.
For residents of the tight-knit community, the succession of discoveries has been both shocking and, in some measure, a source of grim closure. Some in the area have said the identifications offer families a first step toward understanding, even as the questions of how and why the deaths occurred remain firmly unanswered.