As 28 years pass, investigators release his first artists impression of the unidentified man was found dead in a hotel.
Kristin Hawthorne reports.
Kristin Hawthorne reports.
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00:00An image of a man that was found dead in a guesthouse in Margate in 1996 has been released,
00:06as it's now three decades later.
00:08The investigation turned cold after police were unable to identify the man.
00:13A cold case is where police no longer have enough evidence to pursue an investigation.
00:18Although it's no longer here, just over my shoulder was where the Jolly Roger Hotel used to be,
00:23where the man who has not yet been identified was last seen.
00:26And that was the case for the Margate man.
00:29Until today, where a constructed image of the person's face was released to the public.
00:34Locate International, an organisation that looks into these cold cases,
00:38especially those of missing or unidentified people, were responsible for the new evidence.
00:44The thinking behind it is that by creating a living depiction, as we call them, of the person,
00:50as they would have looked in life, then it can make a bit more of a difference
00:55and become a bit more recognisable to people.
00:58And we have found, by doing this, even with cases going back to the 1950s,
01:03that people's memories are triggered in a way that they're not triggered by other memories, for example.
01:10By just seeing the face, something comes back to you.
01:13So that's what we're really hoping for in this case.
01:15In the case of the Margate man, they hope the photo will lead to his identification being found.
01:22It is believed he was a Japanese man in his mid-twenties, around five foot, eight inches tall,
01:27and weighed around 11 stone.
01:29In the guesthouse book, he gave his name as Mr Karasawara.
01:33Our research has come to the conclusion, really, that that name is incorrect.
01:38So whether it was incorrectly transcribed at the time, it's been misinterpreted,
01:43it's been misunderstood over the years.
01:48There is a suggestion that that could be from the south of Japan.
01:51Certainly, it seems like a Japanese name.
01:54So our theory now is that he almost certainly was Japanese, this man.
01:58And the fact that he had gone to look for a Japanese restaurant in Margate
02:04kind of also confirms that, I think.
02:07After his death, a coroner later recorded a verdict of suicide.
02:11According to Locate International, having the closure of knowing what happened to your loved ones
02:16can bring peace during a time of grief.
02:19So long as another piece of the puzzle is revealed, thanks to the public's input,
02:23the investigators will continue to try and get to the bottom of who the Margate man truly is.
02:28Kristen Hawthorne for KMTV in Margate.