Police in Durham Region say human remains found in an Oshawa apartment last week belong to a missing 18-year-old whose torso was found floating in the nearby waterfront last September.
Last week, Durham Regional Police officers responded to a basement apartment on McMillan Drive, near Bond and Centre Streets after a man doing work at the residence called them to report the discovery of a woman’s body.
By Friday, police confirmed that the remains belong to Rori Hache.
Back in September, an 11-year-old boy and his grandfather were fishing in the Oshawa Harbour when they spotted a torso floating in the water. According to a coroner who later attended the scene, the remains had suffered “obvious signs of trauma.”
Homicide detectives were called in to investigate a few days later. Police were later able to identify the torso as Hache through DNA.
Hache had been reported missing by her family and was last seen on Aug. 29.
While conducting a search of the McMillan Drive home, officers discovered a “suspicious package” which was later ruled to be some sort of an explosive device. Officers proceeded to evacuate nearby homes while the police force’s explosive disposal unit safely detonated the package.
A 45-year-old suspect, believed to be the tenant of the home on McMillan Drive, was taken into custody at the scene.
The suspect, identified as Adam Jeffrey Strong, has been charged with one count of improper or indecent interference with a dead body.
Police previously said further examination was required to determine whether the incident would be classified as a homicide.
It’s not yet clear whether Hache and the suspect knew one another.
“There is the one charge right now and investigators have advised me that this is the appropriate charge based on the evidence and the information they’ve collected thus far in the investigation,” Const. George Tudos said.
“Right now I know in the basement apartment there’s a lot of information and a lot of evidence that needs to be collected. We’re working closely with our forensic officers and will be collecting all this information and hopefully this will lead us in another direction.”
Former homicide detective and CP24 crime specialist Steve Ryan says that investigators will have to find a link between the suspect and victim before any further, more serious charges are laid.
“Because this happened so quickly – the police unexpectedly came across theses remains. Once they were identified as that of Rori, the only charges they could lay at that time was the indignity or interference to a dead body because that’s all they had. Now they need to work on establishing some sort of relationship or connection between the deceased and the accused, and they’ll do that through interviews, through phone records, banking records,” he said.
“Because the remains were found in one’s residence doesn’t necessarily mean that they killed that person.”
Speaking to CTV News Toronto back in November, Hache’s godmother said the family distributed rougly 1,000 flyers with the girl’s photo on it around Oshawa.
She described Hache as a “sweetheart” and “incredibly bright.”
A Facebook post published on Friday by Hache’s uncle claims that the 18-year-old was pregnant at her time of death.
“So this is the weirdo Adam Strong that was arrested with possession of the missing parts of my 18-year-old pregnant niece, Rori Hache,” says Harley Guindon, an Oshawa Hell’s Angels member.
“Would have wished to been able to get to him before the police but clearly he’s about to have a tough go for the rest of his life which is nearly as satisfying [sic].”
Tudos said investigators have been in constant contact with Hache’s family about the developments in her case.
“I know our investigators work closely with our victims ensuring they’re informed of the investigation as it proceeds. I know they have been in contact with the family and advised them of what we put out earlier to the public, he said.
“It is a very disturbing find.”
