Occurrence #: BA13060720
Date: Thursday, January 16, 2014 – 9:16am
Barrie Police Service assists Bergan County Medical Examiner’s office in identifying deceased Barrie resident Kathleen Togwell and New Jersey resident Margaret Porkka. Both women were unknown to each other and vacationing in St. Maarten when succumbed from their deaths due to medical conditions.
Both Togwell and Porrka bodies were transported to Emerald Funeral Home in St. Maarten and prepared for shipment to Barrie, Ontario, Canada and Bergan Country, New Jersey, United States.
On Friday December 13th 2013, Foreign Affairs, Ottawa notified Kathleen Togwell’s next of kin of the investigation. Barrie Police Service assisted in recovering DNA for forensic confirmation. Results expected in 10 days. Police and Medical Examiner have both deduced the bodies were unintentionally switched and both Togwell body and Porkka remains are in transport to their respective families.