Search warrants executed in body-parts probe, police say
Police are executing search warrants in connection with an investigation into body parts found in Toronto and Mississauga in recent days.
Peel Regional Police Const. Fiona Thivierge told CBC News that the investigation is moving forward in both cities.
"There have been search warrants issued and executed in different parts of both regions," Thivierge said.
Thivierge said she did not anticipate any further updates on the investigation on Monday evening.
"We haven’t come across anything new today in our area, so it’s just a question of trying to be as patient as possible and allow the evidence to take us where it needs to go in order to get answers to this puzzling situation," she said.
On Monday, police said they believe the body parts found in Mississauga’s Hewick Meadows Park last week are likely related to other remains found in east Toronto over the weekend.
"We have a female victim who unfortunately we’ve been able to find portions of her body in two jurisdictions," Peel Regional Police Sgt. Pete Brandwood told reporters on Monday.
In Mississauga, which is part of Peel Region, police have recovered a right foot, a severed head and two hands during a multi-day search in Hewick Meadows Park.
Meanwhile, Toronto police have recovered an arm and two calves after they were alerted to the discovery of remains in West Highland Creek on back-to-back days on the weekend.
Brandwood said there are "obvious similarities between the discovery of those body parts in Toronto and the recent discovery of our body parts here in Peel."
He also said police are "pretty close to finding out who the victim is."
The second discovery in West Highland Creek was made on Sunday by Dale Brazao of The Toronto Star.
Brazao was trying to take photos of the scene when he nearly tripped over a garbage bag floating in the creek.
"I pried it up and I could see that there was body parts in there," he said.
Brazao said his thoughts immediately went to the victim’s family.
"My first thought was this is somebody’s daughter, this is somebody’s mother," he said.
"Somebody’s been chopped up, put in this bag and thrown in the river. And that’s pretty sick."
While Peel Regional Police took down the yellow tape on Monday that had been in place at the Mississauga park, new tape was put in place on the property of Scarborough Station Inn that is related to the same investigation.
Thivierge said it was expected that the Mississauga ground search would conclude on Monday.
