Mad Trapper wasn't Canadian, says researcher
By Darah Hansen, Canwest News ServiceMay 23, 2009

VANCOUVER - It turns out Canada's infamous historical ``Mad Trapper'' - who murdered a police officer in 1932, sparking a six-week manhunt through the Northwest Territories that ended with his death - may not be a Canadian.

A tooth, a fingernail and a portion of bone are helping to shed new light on that shadowy chapter of Canadian history, courtesy of cutting-edge scientific research underway at B.C.'s Simon Fraser University.

SFU forensic anthropologist Lynne Bell worked with a team of researchers to help track the true identity of Albert Johnson, the Arctic outlaw known as the ``Mad Trapper.''

What she found - that Johnson was likely an American or Scandinavian, rather than Canadian - stunned many involved in the project.

Johnson made headlines when, after shooting and killing an RCMP officer, he went on the lam, sparking off an intensive, six-week police manhunt across the N.W.T. wilderness. He died Feb. 17, 1932, after being shot by police, and was buried in the tiny community of Aklavik.

Recently, an Edmonton-based documentary film company set out to discover more about this mysterious figure, including his heritage. That's where Bell came in.

The Canadian Police Research Centre asked Bell to join the team because of her previous experience using isotopic testing to help determine geographic origin in modern human teeth. Bell uses data collected from human tissues to narrow down the region where a person was raised, and where he or she may have travelled in the last years and months of life.

Her tests on Johnson's body, which was exhumed from the Aklavik cemetery, involved tracing the levels of two different oxygen isotopes found in water systems.

According to Bell, the water people drink leaves an ``inherent signature'' in tooth enamel, making it possible to determine where they lived during childhood when the teeth were developing. In this case, she determined Johnson likely grew up in the United States or Scandinavia, and not Canada as many had previously thought.

``That was a surprise to me, too,'' she said of the results.

From tissues taken from Johnson's femur, Bell also determined corn had featured prominently in his diet over several years.

His fingernail, meanwhile, revealed clues to his activities in his final six months of life - about the time he first drew police attention following allegations he had been raiding traps set by local hunters.

Bell said nitrogen levels revealed Johnson had a ``pretty healthy protein intake'' over the summer and early fall of 1931; however, his diet appeared to change dramatically as the cold weather set in.

``We did see a biological indication he was getting less protein in the winter period,'' Bell said.

The results lend credibility to a theory Johnson may have been forced to raid traps in order to survive. At the time of his death, Bell added, there were no signs Johnson had ever been starving.

``When he was discovered, I believe he even had a squirrel, or some small mammal on him that he had killed. He was obviously managing to get protein while on the run,'' she said.

The Hunt for the Mad Trapper, produced by Myth Merchant Films, premiered on TV's Discovery Channel earlier this week.

Vancouver Sun