Human remains that were found behind a Riverdale butcher shop Tuesday were there for mere hours before they were discovered, Toronto police told reporters Wednesday.
Det.-Sgt. Terry Browne said the remains -- a partial torso -- were in a state that leads him to believe they were brought to the back of the shop in a plastic garbage bag likely at some point Tuesday morning.
They were discovered around 11:15 a.m. by an employee of the butcher shop, which is located near Broadview Avenue and Gerrard Street. He found them inside a plastic garbage bag in a rubber garbage bin and thought it was strange because the bin should have been empty at that point in the day.
“When he pulled the bin out he noticed that it had some weight to it so then that’s when he dumped it out and (saw the) gruesome discovery that looked like human remains.”
A coroner will be examining the remains today to verify if they are in fact human but Browne said he is confident the remains belong to a light-skinned, adult female.
“The remains appear to be somewhat fresh,” Browne said. “That is to say, I don’t think this person has been deceased for a long period of time. I won’t get into the details of why I say that.”
Browne said the remaining body parts could be somewhere in the vicinity and investigators are asking residents in the neighbourhood to look out for any suspicious bags on their property.
At this point, he said, it’s too early to tell what happened to the woman.
"There could be a number of reasons how this person died. Right now we certainly have what appears to be an indignity to a body and then we work our way backwards and find out how that person met their demise and the rest of the circumstances."
In the meantime, police are looking to speak with anyone who saw something out of place in the area around the time the remains were disposed. Investigators are also looking at surveillance footage taken from local security cameras.
Police have spoken with one man who said he saw a suspicious van parked outside the butcher shop at around 3 a.m. Tuesday.
The potential witness told CP24 that he saw a man get out of the van and come back a short time later. He soon drove off down Broadview Avenue.
“I just thought it was a paper delivery guy," the man said. He contacted police once he heard about the remains on the news.
With files from Codi Wilson
