The mother of a pregnant 18-year-old woman whose remains were found at two separate locations in Oshawa says that she believes her daughter was 'hunted' by a man that she had no known relationship with.
A torso belonging to Rori Hache was found floating in Oshawa Harbour in September, just weeks after she was first reported missing by her family.
Police scoured the harbour in the wake of the grisly discovery but were unable to locate any additional remains. That is until Dec. 29 when police located human remains at a basement apartment in Oshawa after being contacted by someone who was completing some work at the property.
A post-mortem examination then confirmed that those remains belonged to Hache.
Police arrested 45-year-old Adam Jeffrey Strong, who is believed to be tenant of the home, at the time.
He is charged with one count of improper/ indecent interference with a dead body, though police have said that additional charges are possible.
“Rori to me was everything. I am nothing without my daughter and I really don’t know what life is going to be like for my family because nothing is going to be the same after this,” Hache’s mother, Shanan Dionne, told reporters following a brief court appearance by Strong via video link on Wednesday. “My daughter was a great human being. She was brilliant. With everything she did, she did wonderfully so there is no doubt in my mind that being a mother, she would have taken that to the top.”
Dionne told reporters that she only recently learned that her daughter was pregnant shortly before her disappearance and didn’t know exactly how far along she was.
She said that her daughter was “putting the right foot forward to make changes in her life” so she could be a great mother to the unborn child.
As for the ongoing investigation into her daughter’s death, Dionne said that she is “hopeful” that homicide charges will be forthcoming.
She said that she is not aware of any relationship that her daughter may have had with the suspect.
“I believe my daughter was hunted,” she said. “Nothing’s been proven but that’s what I feel in my heart.”
Police remain at suspect’s apartment
Police have been granted a 30-day window to execute the search warrant at Strong’s McMillan Drive address and have indicated that they plan to be on site at the property for the entire period.
Few details are known about what has or has not been located inside the apartment at this point, though a tent that police are using to shelter potential evidence from the elements has been set up outside.
Meanwhile a former friend of Strong’s, who did not want to be identified, called the apartment “a basement of horrors” while speaking with CTV News Toronto on Wednesday.
CTV News Toronto has also confirmed that a photo showing a pair of handcuffs hanging from a door frame was taken inside the apartment. The photo was posted to Strong’s facebook page with the caption “Home is where my handcuffs hang.”
Strong has been remanded into custody until his next appearance on Jan. 24.
The charges against him have not been proven in court.
