Family of Toronto man, presumed murdered, visits landfill on first day of police search

TORONTO -

The family of Nathaniel Brettell, an Etobicoke man who was presumed murdered in January, made the trip to London on Monday to see the first day of a massive police search of a landfill for his remains.

Lois and Ian Brettell drove for hours from their homes in the Niagara region to the Green Lane Landfill, bringing with them mementos and photos of other deceased family members to remind their brother he’s not alone.

“I’m full of anguish, full of pain,” Lois Brettell told CTV News London outside of the facility on Monday.

“I’m Nathaniel Brettell’s baby sister — I want to know everything I can.”

The 57-year-old Toronto man first went missing in January from his Etobicoke rooming house. Officers looking for him on February 2 were attacked by a man with a butcher’s knife.

Ahmed Al-Farkh, 34, was charged with attempted murder by the officers. Police say they found blood in Brettell’s apartment and concluded he had been murdered — but there was no sign of a body.

Toronto Police have said they have reason to believe his body is at the landfill and got a warrant to search the property as of last Monday, but the search didn’t begin until today.

From the outside, the only sign of activity was two Toronto Paramedics vehicles. Three staff members had been sent, the agency said, to provide medical care to officers on the ground. The search is expected to take months.

The facility takes roughly 800,000 tons of trash from the City of Toronto annually.

Lois is hoping that earlier investigative steps would make the week’s delay less likely to hurt the chances of finding evidence.

“There were police on this ground in late February. There were spikes put in the ground around a certain area in this landfill, where they presume my brother’s remains rest,” she said.

Ian said he and his sister are hoping they will finally know the truth of what happened to their brother.

“I miss him. It’s really hard,” he said. “Just to know what happened to him — to have closure on it,” he said.