Police in central Ontario have laid two first-degree murder charges in a cold case dating back to 1991.

Investigators with the provincial police and Barrie Police Service said Michael Guido Gerald Claes, of Elmvale, Ont., was charged on Monday in the deaths of Grant Ayerst and Norman Whalley and remains in custody.

The two men, aged 21 and 36 respectively, were last seen leaving a hotel in Toronto on Sept. 11, 1991. Their remains have not been found.

Police declined to comment on what evidence led to the arrest of 49-year-old Claes, who they said grew up in Barrie and was known to them for several years.

Det.-Sgt. Ken Leppert noted, however, that the arrest has come as a comfort to the families of the two missing British Columbia men, who have lived without answers for decades.

“I can’t imagine how difficult it has been for them with these losses over these many years,” Leppert said, noting that they have been very supportive of the investigation.

The Ayerst family did not attend the announcement, but issued a written statement to media, thanking the police for their effort.

“Early on in this tragedy we chose not to let the events surrounding Grant’s disappearance destroy our lives,” the family said. “Instead we chose to keep the good memories alive, hope to move us forward and always anticipated the day we would have some resolution to this tragedy which disrupted our lives over 26 years ago.”

“Patience, karma and hope have paid off,” the Ayersts added.

The disappearances of Ayerst and Whalley were among four cold cases profiled by the provincial and Barrie police forces last year as part of a project called the Simcoe County Case Files, prompting renewed interest and offering hope to the families of the alleged victims.

As part of the project, police created a Facebook page where they profiled the cases in episodic videos that have now been viewed hundreds of thousands of times.

They also wrapped a cube van with case information to direct viewers to the Facebook page and encourage tips. The van was strategically parked in various locations throughout the Greater Simcoe County area.

The other cases part of the project included 17-year-old Cindy Halliday of Waverly, Ont., who was last seen hitchhiking near Midhurst, Ont., in 1992. Her remains were discovered months later, and questions still swirl around what happened to her.

April Dobson, 40, was sitting on a friend’s porch in 2005 when she was shot to death, and the body of 30-year-old Jaimee Lee Miller was found in a wooded area in March 2016, five months after she was last seen.

All of the cases included in the project are believed to be homicides.