Toronto police have arrested a suspect in the death of Chinese student Qian Liu, who was murdered in her basement apartment near York University.

Twenty-three-year-old Liu, a student at York from Beijing, was found dead at 27 Aldwinckle Heights on Saturday. Her boyfriend in China had been chatting with her via webcam, and says he saw a man enter her apartment and attack her before Liu's computer was shut down.

Toronto police had referred to the situation as a "suspicious death" until Wednesday, when Inspector Edward Boyd announced the sudden break in the investigation.

"With respect to the death of Ms. Liu at 27 Aldwinckle Heights, this is to advise you that it has been deemed a homicide," Boyd told reporters at a brief press conference.

Boyd announced the arrest of a suspect in the case, but declined to comment further.

Brian Dickson, 29, of Toronto, was taken into custody Wednesday afternoon and charged with first-degree murder.

He will appear in a Toronto courtroom Thursday morning.

Father Jianhui Liu, who has called for justice in the death of his daughter, arrived at Toronto's Pearson International Airport on Wednesday.

"At the beginning I didn't believe it was true," he said through a translator. "She was a very hard working and outstanding girl."

Liu's boyfriend spoke exclusively to CTV News in Beijing on Wednesday, outlining the shock of watching what he said was a man attempt to hug his girlfriend before turning on her.

The boyfriend, who requested anonymity, spoke for the first time about the incident with CTV's Ben O'Hara-Byrne at the park in China where he first met Liu. He said his webcam conversation, which took place hours before Liu's death, was interrupted when she heard a knock at the door at about 1 a.m.

He said a man entered the apartment and leaned in for an embrace, but grew aggressive when Liu refused. Shortly after, the webcam was disconnected.

"The man tried to hug (her) but she was resisting and saying, ‘No, no, please don't,;" he said. "At that moment my mind went blank and I was cursing him from my webcam, I was so far away I couldn't reach her. I felt so helpless and I couldn't calm down until in the end the guy closed the computer."

It was at this point that he says he sprung into action, cracking his girlfriend's password for a Chinese Internet chatroom so he could contact her friends in Canada.

Police discovered Liu hours later, dead inside her apartment near York University.

Police said that an autopsy did not help to determine Liu's cause of death, and that it could be weeks before toxicology results could bring any results.

A community forum organized by students has been planned for Thursday, in response to various violent incidents that have recently occurred in the area.

Vanessa Hunt, a representative of the York Federation of Students, said "This year alone, we have seen York students raped, sexually assaulted and even killed on or around or campus."

Hunt said that students feel that York administration isn't doing enough to ensure students are safe at the university.

In response to the recent incidents, the university announced on Wednesday that it would increase security on campus.

President and Vice-Chancellor of York University Mamdouh Shoukri said that paid-duty police officers would patrol the campus through the night.

The university added that Toronto police would also be increasing its presence in the neighbourhoods near campus, including the presence of undercover officers.

Investigators were seen taking down police tape at the apartment at 27 Aldwinckle Heights. Authorities were also present at her former residence on Haynes Avenue.

Liu's former roommates said the incident has been too traumatic for them and they plan to move out of their apartment.

With files from The Canadian Press and CTV's Zuraidah Alman