After almost five decades, police have identified the remains of a woman discovered dead in a Canadian river, and they’ve charged a Florida man as the alleged killer. When Tennessee businesswoman Jewell Parchman Langford, 48, left the U.S. for Montréal in April 1975, her family immediately knew something was terribly wrong because she did not return and did not keep in touch. Cops in the province of Ontario now blame Florida resident Rodney Nichols, 81, for murdering her.
Janice Mulcock, a retired detective constable for the Ontario Provincial Police’s Russell County Crime Unit, said Langford was a beloved daughter, sister, aunt, cousin, and friend.
“So adored in life, that when her ex-husband of many years learned of her disappearance, [he] rallied with her mother, siblings, and friends to search for her,” Mulcock said in a media announcement.
Langford and her ex-husband ran a successful health spa together in the U.S. after they divorced.
“In this respect, she truly was a woman ahead of her time,” Mulcock said of the businesswoman.
Langford had been the chair and president of the Jackson, Tennessee, chapter of the American Business Woman’s Association. Her employees became her friends. Colleagues voted her Woman of the Year in 1971. She was a leader and mentor with inspirational enthusiasm, according to the investigator.
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“In January 1973, Jewell passed on the following words,” Mulcock said. “First, carefully choose what you want to make of your life. Set your goal. Work toward that goal. Give your employer and customer their money’s worth. Keep yourself physically fit, neat, attractive, sincere, and above all, keep trying.”
“It is without a doubt that had Jewell’s life not been taken from her, she would have lived on for many more years to be adored and loved by all who knew her,” the investigator added.
That life came to an end in Spring 1975. Investigators did not reveal how Nichols allegedly murdered Langford, or why. Detective Inspector Daniel Nadeau, major case manager of the OPP Criminal Investigation Branch, did say that they knew each other.
Langford was found dead in the Nation River on May 3, 1975, nearby the Highway 417 bridge. This is by the village of Castleman in eastern Ontario, east of Ottowa. Her identity and the answer behind her death were long a mystery to Canadian investigators. Leads from the investigation turned up empty as they tried to put a name on her. That all changed with the emergence of genetic genealogy testing. Authorities said they managed to get a new DNA profile even though many years had passed. They shared it with a U.S. organization that works with law enforcement. From there, they found a link to Langford.
To confirm the match, they met with relatives and got DNA samples, many of these from nieces. Investigators finally confirmed the truth: the victim long known as the “Nation River Lady” was actually Jewell Parchman Langford.
“In the last year, and with the victim now identified, the OPP investigators worked with the Service de Police de la Ville de Montréal to examine evidence that was gathered decades before relating to the unsolved missing person case,” authorities wrote. “A lengthy investigation ensued, involving the OPP, SPVM, the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Office of the Chief Coroner for Ontario, and the Canadian and United States Department of Justice, leading to a criminal charge on an individual residing in Hollywood, Florida.”
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