TORONTO - The remains of a young girl were discovered in a construction-site dumpster in a high-end Toronto neighbourhood this week police said Thursday as they asked the public for help identifying the child.
Investigators said they have not been able to determine the girl's cause of death, nor do they know just when she might have died, but they think her remains were placed in the dumpster sometime between last Thursday and Monday.
"Our first priority is to figure out who this little girl is," Insp. Hank Idsinga told reporters. "We will get to the bottom of it no matter what it takes."
Officers responded to a call about remains found in a construction-disposal dumpster in the ritzy Rosedale neighbourhood on Monday afternoon. The property where the remains were found is unoccupied and under construction, police said.
An autopsy completed on Wednesday identified the remains as those of a girl between the age of four and seven, investigators said.
The girl may have died as early as the summer of 2021 or even before then, police said.
"It's a very unusual circumstance that we’re dealing with right now, that the potential time of death could be even earlier than last summer," Idsinga said, noting that further forensic tests could narrow that timeframe.
On Thursday afternoon, yellow police tape could be seen stretched across the driveway of the home where the construction dumpster had stood. A police car was parked near the home, on a residential street.
At the end of a stone path beside the home's driveway, a pot of pink flowers had been placed with a card that read "little one, we pray heaven has dried your tears."
“It’s kind of crazy to think about, that that would happen,” says Mikkel Shiffman, who has lived in the house across the street with his parents since he was four.
“It makes you feel that stuff like this happens a lot closer than you think…it’s a shame,” he said.
Police said the remains of the girl had been found wrapped in a crochet blanket inside a plastic bag, and that bag was wrapped in a colourful blanket. Police shared images of both blankets in the hopes that someone will recognize them and help identify the child.
Jason Conover, who lives around the corner, said he felt for whoever found the remains.
“To find a child abandoned must have been awful for the person who did,” he said.
The girl was described as Black, of African or mixed African descent, and three feet, six inches tall with a thin build. Police said her hair was sectioned in four short ponytails, two of which were braided and secured with black and blue elastic bands.
"Kids don’t just die," Idsinga said. "If anyone has any information whatsoever, please call us immediately."
The Toronto police missing person's unit and the homicide squad were working closely together on the case, police said. While some missing persons reports had come close to matching the profile of the girl whose remains were found, none were so far a definite match, Idsinga said.
Police would be looking at a charge of indignity to human remains in relation to the case but that could change rapidly as more information emerges, Idsinga said.
"We are investigating this death at its highest level," he said. "We have the investigative assets in place to deal with wherever the evidence takes us."
