New appeal over mystery of body found in reservoir two years ago

A black and white digital facial reconstruction of the unidentified man. He appears to be aged between 40 and 60, with a round face, prominent ears and slightly misshapen teeth.
Face Lab at Liverpool John Moores University

Police have renewed an appeal over a man whose body was found in a reservoir wearing a wetsuit two years ago.

Officers believed he had been in the water up to 12 weeks when a dog walker discovered the body at Claerwen Reservoir in Powys on 17 October 2024.

Det Insp Anthea Ponting, who has led the investigation, said it was a "highly unusual situation" that Dyfed-Powys Police are still no closer to identifying the man.

The man was wearing a black XL Zone 3 Agile wetsuit, and it was estimated that he had been in the water for up to 12 weeks.

Dyfed-Powys Police said an investigation has seen all reasonable and proportionate lines of enquiry carried out however the man's identity remains a mystery.

Detectives asked UK police forces to scour their missing person databases, and checked the man's DNA and fingerprints with national records.

When that didn't produce any results, they cast the net wider, using the limited details they had to check for a match with the National Crime Agency's larger missing persons register.

Eventually, they reached out to Interpol, asking for international police appeals to be sent out to 24 European countries, and created a digital recreation of a man's face in an effort to help find the identity.

An aerial view of a vast reservoir surrounded by rolling green hills and in the forefront of the image is a single car travelling on a winding country road.

Initial enquiries gave officers a general idea of the man's age, height and build as between 30 and 60 years old, around 6ft (1.83m), weighing between 202lbs and 220lbs (91.5kg to 99.5kg), and of white European descent.

The subsequent facial depiction work identified that he had protruding teeth and a left-sided cross bite, a rounded chin and square jawline, with a down-turned nose.

He had no distinguishable marks such as scars or tattoos, and there were no other items of clothing, jewellery or modes of transport located in the area.

While previous public appeals have reached a significant number of people in the UK and overseas, DI Ponting hopes that two years on from the discovery the message might reach the right person.

"Someone must know who this man is," she said.

"Maybe you recognise him from the digital image, or maybe you visited Claerwen Reservoir and saw something that stands out in your mind – whatever it is, it might help to progress our enquiries."

Original source New appeal over mystery of body found in reservoir two years ago

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