A suspect has been charged with first-degree murder after an elderly woman was stabbed to death at an apartment building in the city’s Thorncliffe Park neighbourhood early Friday morning.
It happened in a fourth floor unit at a building on Thorncliffe Park Drive near Overlea Boulevard and Don Mills Road at around 12:55 a.m.
Det. Andy Singh said officers were called to the building after residents reported “hearing a commotion.”
Upon entering the unit, they found a woman suffering from “significant trauma.”
The victim, identified as 69-year-old Marite Zala, was pronounced dead on scene.
Singh said a man in his 30s was located at the building and arrested a short time later.
Though police have not said what the exact relationship is between the suspect and the victim, they have indicated that there is some sort of family connection.
“We are very early on in the investigation but I can tell you that it was a contained incident,” Singh said. “We believe the incident was within the family, so there is no threat to anybody in the building.”
A suspect identified as 31-year-old Ernest Lajos Zala has been charged with first-degree murder.
