Gordon Sanderson

Status:

Open

Offense Location:

Edmonton, Alberta

Summary:

Gordon Edwin Sanderson was a formerly unidentified Canadian murder victim who was found in a septic tank in 1977 at Lindbrook, Alberta, 13 kilometers west of Tofield. His decomposed body was discovered April 13, 1977, and he died in early 1977 from homicide by gunshot. His remains were identified in January 2021, and his identity was revealed five months later.

Vital Statistics

Circumstances of Offense:

Gordon Edwin Sanderson was residing in Edmonton, Alberta, during the period leading up to his murder, which occurred sometime between late 1976 and early 1977. In the 1970s, he was living in Edmonton, and had planned to visit his brother, Arthur, in Calgary. The last time Sanderson had spoken to his family, he had mentioned that he was going to visit his brother in Calgary. Sanderson was found by a local couple scavenging their abandoned property for a septic tank pump. After seeing his leg bobbing in their old septic tank, they alerted the Tofield detachment of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP). Sanderson was found wearing a blue Levi's shirt with snap buttons, a grey T-shirt, blue jeans, and imitation Wallabee shoes. His decomposed body was wrapped in a yellow bed sheet and tied up with a nylon rope.

Additional Details:

Sanderson's cause of death was two gunshots to the head and chest. Before his death, Sanderson had been tortured: he had been beaten, tied up, burned with a small butane torch and cigarettes, and sexually mutilated with a sharp object. After Sanderson's death, he had been covered in quicklime, most likely in a mistaken attempt to hasten decomposition. Authorities suspected he was not from Alberta, but most likely worked as a migrant worker. Due to a lack of evidence in the septic tank, Sanderson was most likely murdered elsewhere and the septic tank was only a dumpsite. Sanderson's murderers are believed to have known him, due to how viciously he had been killed. It is also suspected Sanderson's murderers were Tofield locals or were familiar with the area, due to the location of Sanderson's dumpsite being on a rural property. Police stated that Sanderson was a victim of the Sixties Scoop and put into foster care when he was nine years old. The RCMP say Sanderson, who was born in Manitoba, was separated from his family as a nine-year-old during the Sixties Scoop and placed in foster care. His sister, Joyce Sanderson, reported him missing in the 1980s. Sanderson's body has been exhumed from his unmarked grave in an Edmonton cemetery twice. In 1979, his body was flown to Oklahoma so that Clyde Snow and Betty Pat Gatliff, a forensic anthropologist and medical illustrator, could create a clay bust of the victim. By the end of the original investigation, as much as $1,000,000 CAD had been spent investigating the case. Police had submitted DNA to Othram, Inc., a private laboratory in The Woodlands, Texas, and identified Sanderson in January 2021, after which the case became an active homicide investigation. On June 30, Alberta RCMP publicly identified Sam in a virtual press conference as Gordon Edwin Sanderson, a 26-year-old Indigenous man from Manitoba who was living in Edmonton at the time of his death. Investigators developed a family tree with several possible relatives, which led investigators to Mr. Sanderson's sister, Joyce, and allowed them to confirm his identity. Police believe Sanderson was killed by associates of his involved in various criminal acts in Edmonton. They acknowledge that his killer may now be dead.

Case Last Updated:

Nov 15, 2026