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Add as a favourite source on Google Add DutchNews as a favourite source on GoogleAn online researcher may have made a breakthrough in the hunt for the identity of “Lucky”, a man who collapsed in Amsterdam three years ago and is unable to communicate. A recent public appeal for information by the police has surfaced a potential match with a missing person in Canada.

An image of “Lucky”, who was also known by the name “Chris the Canadian” to Amsterdam locals, was likened to a file of pictures on the Vancouver Police Department’s cold case unit by someone on Facebook.

John Russell Kennedy, whose missing person’s file photos appear very similar to the one the Dutch police put out, was registered as missing since 1993.

Dutch police said they are considering the tip, according to paper AD, though they also noted that such similarities have been common in prior cases and turned out not to be real matches. “We don’t want to jump to any conclusions at this point, or to give false hope,” a spokesperson said.

Much of what is listed on the Canadian missing person’s case matches descriptions put out by locals who knew the man before his collapse in 2023. He was said to have a North American accent and appeared to have mental health problems.

Vancouver police confirmed they are taking the tip very seriously and said they had made contact with Amsterdam police, according to Anton van Straten, the person who made the connection online and shared it via Facebook.

“Only an official investigation, for example using DNA, can provide certainty about this,” Van Straten wrote in his post. “Now it is up to the professionals to investigate this further. In any case, it didn’t take me three years to find this potential match.”

If “Lucky” is indeed John Russell Kennedy, he would be 67 years old now and missing from his family for almost half his life.

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