A man arrested in connection with the fatal stabbing of a Ryerson professor has had his charge upgraded to first-degree murder, after police connected the case to another that occurred earlier the same night.
Mark Ernsting, a 39-year-old cancer researcher who also worked as an adjunct professor at Ryerson, was stabbed outside a home on McGill Street, just steps away from Ryerson’s campus, on Dec. 15.
He was pronounced dead in hospital shortly after.
Calvin Michael Nimoh, 21, was initially charged with second-degree murder, but police confirmed Friday that the charge was upgraded to first-degree murder.
CTV Toronto's Tamara Cherry said the charges were upgraded because police allege that Ernsting was forcibly confined, based on investigators drawing a connection to another robbery that occurred nearby, two hours earlier.
Officers told Cherry they learned more information as they investigated the earlier robbery, which occurred in the area of Yonge Street and Summerhill Avenue on the same day.
Police have not provided further information on how or where Ernsting may have been confined.
