Crystal Beach woman fundraising to bury brother found after 38 years

Melissa (Verbeek) Godwin is raising money to bring her brother’s remains home after DNA testing confirmed the man buried as an unknown crash victim in Toronto for nearly four decades was Bradley Verbeek, who disappeared from London, Ont., in 1987.

Godwin, a Crystal Beach resident and employee of Fort Erie Radio better known on air as “Melissa the Admin,” said Ontario Provincial Police notified her on June 16 that her brother, who was 19 when he vanished, died as a passenger in a motorcycle crash at Harbord and St. George streets in Toronto on May 12, 1988. Police buried him as an unknown male when no one identified the body.

“Everyone’s like, ‘Oh, I’m glad you have closure.’ I don’t have closure. I’ll be better when he’s with my parents,” Godwin told Fort Erie Radio.

Her cousin Becky Thompson has launched a GoFundMe with an $11,000 goal to cover cremation, transportation, funeral and burial costs. Godwin wants Bradley buried beside their parents, who both died without learning what happened to him.

Bradley left the family home after a fight with his parents and went to stay with an uncle in London. He walked away from that house in December 1987 without his belongings or identification. His father filed a missing person report with Middlesex OPP on March 11, 1988.

Godwin said the family followed rumours and possible sightings across the province for decades. Police could offer little help at the time because Bradley was an adult.

“Our family has never stopped searching for him ever,” said Godwin.

The case turned when Godwin’s daughter found a picture of Bradley online on an OPP missing persons poster, posted in the early 2000s. Godwin travelled to London to give a DNA sample, but learned her father had already submitted his own before his death in 2019. He never told the family.

“About six months after that, I got a call from a detective saying, ‘We have a body that matches the description of your brother and tested positively or favourably with your dad’s DNA,'” said Godwin.

Investigators still needed maternal DNA because Bradley was Godwin’s half-brother. Her mother adopted him at age four, a fact Godwin only learned around the time he disappeared when she was 12.

A woman from Bradley’s biological family then reached her through Facebook Messenger.

“She just messaged me on Messenger and being like…I don’t know if this is a coincidence or not, but my mom had a son named Bradley Verbeek and she was married to a guy named John Verbeek,” said Godwin.

A maternal sample confirmed the match.

OPP said the identification came through a multi-agency investigation led by the Middlesex County OPP Crime Unit, with help from Toronto police, Hamilton police, the Ontario Forensic Pathology Service and national and provincial missing persons centres.

“Every missing person matters. We remain committed to locating the missing, identifying the unknown and helping families and loved ones find answers,” said Detective Inspector Nathan Parker of the OPP Criminal Investigation Branch in a media release.

Sarah Diver, identified in the OPP release as Bradley’s sister, described the weight of the unresolved case in a written family statement.

“You spend years searching, hoping for answers while living in limbo,” said Diver.

Godwin’s father died on May 12, 2019–31 years to the day after Bradley’s crash.

Godwin must now review the Toronto police and coroner’s reports before she can claim the remains.

“And then I get to, hopefully, raise enough money to bring my brother home and bury him with my parents,” said Godwin.

She offered a message of hope to other families still waiting for answers.

“Don’t give up hope because one day you’ll get an answer. It may take a long time, but hopefully you’ll get one,” said Godwin.

Donations to the GoFundMe can be made here.

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