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The mystery surrounding the identity of the man found on a Lake Huron beach more than a week ago just got a little clearer.

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And, at the same time, a little murkier.

Huron County OPP want to know if the drowned man found on the Port Albert beach north of Goderich earlier this month is the person who called himself Mitchell Nelson, 57, who spoke to a reporter at Sootoday.com, a northern Ontario newspaper based in Sault Ste. Marie, in September.

Nelson, who was homeless, had been spotted walking along a highway near Espanola with a blue bicycle he’d pulled from the trash and a large green canoe strapped to a homemade trailer fashioned out of a discarded baby’s bicycle trailer and an old golf cart.

Huron OPP said they want to confirm his name and speak to anyone who can identify him.

“It is unfortunate we have to notify the next-of-kin in this manner, but we have no other option other than to seek help from the public in this instance,” said Huron OPP detachment commander Inspector Jason Younan in a news release.

The man who called himself Nelson told the reporter that he was originally from London but had been living in Edmonton for the last eight years.

He had been working and biking across Alberta and British Columbia for years doing odd jobs. He said he was homeless by choice.