Police seek help after remains found

Body parts discovered around Cherry Beach last fall were intentionally dismembered

After body parts washed up on a downtown beach last fall, police are turning to the public to help identify the man they belong to and find out what happened to him.

Police appealed to anyone with information — big or seemingly insignificant — after the first remains washed up at Cherry Beach in October.

For the first time Tuesday, investigators said the man’s body had been intentionally dismembered.

“Someone knows who this individual is. Someone knows what took place,” said Toronto police acting Supt. Kathlin Seremetkovski, of downtown’s 51 Division, at a Tuesday morning news conference.

“This person is a family member, a friend, a coworker, an acquaintance.”

First, police received a call on Oct. 9 after a resident reported they’d located something human — later identified as a thigh — near the water, Seremetkovski told reporters at Toronto Police’s College Street headquarters.

Officers responded and combed the area using cadaver dogs and found a matching thigh some 150 metres away in the water.

Twenty-one days later, a torso turned up, this time discovered by the police’s marine unit out on patrol in Lake Ontario’s outer harbour. It had been partially wrapped in a black plastic bag.

No other remains have been discovered, including a head.

The homicide and missing person’s unit is currently working with the local division, but a cause of death is not yet known.

Seremetkovski said a forensic pathologist who examined the remains determined the body belonged to a man aged 21 to 28 years old, with a light brown or tan complexion, an average to lean build, and black body hair.

Police say he would have been about five-foot-six, plus or minus about 3.5 inches.

There were few identifying features on the body, but the torso was found wearing a size small generic cotton t-shirt and a simple chain necklace, which investigators released photos of Tuesday.

Detective Sergeant Tiffany Castell told reporters that the individual is believed to have died approximately 24-48 hours before the thighs were discovered.

Castell added that since it is unknown how the victim died, the investigation is not yet being treated as a homicide but is being dealt with “the highest level of suspicion.”

She said that police are going through missing persons occurrences and human remains databases each and every day.

Seremetkovski said that police have been in contact with their partner agencies. She said they have not only been looking at missing persons databases nationally but have also gone across the border, in case any of these remains washed up on shore.

Police confirmed that there is no way to know if the victim was a Toronto resident.

Anyone with information has been asked to contact police at 416808-5100 or by using the dedicated tip email at help51@tps.ca. Police added that people can also contact Crime Stoppers anonymously at 416-222-8477.

“No tip is too small,” said Castell.

The deceased man was 21 to 28 years old, with a light brown or tan complexion, an average to lean build and black body hair