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Northwood Park charred body

The burned remains of a victim's body were recently discovered in a fire pit in the Northwood Park, at Sentinel and Sheppard and police needs help identifying the body.

We would like to think that this does not happen often. That being said, here is the full text as published in the Toronto Star.

A check on a grass fire was upgraded to a homicide investigation after Toronto Police discovered human remains in a fire pit in Northwood Park on Saturday.

Police responded to the Sheppard Ave. W. and Sentinel Rd. area, west of Downsview Park, at around 10 a.m. on April 9 after receiving reports of an open fire. Officers found what they say appeared to be a body in the fire pit, with signs of a recently extinguished blaze.

Det. Shannon Dawson told media at a Sunday evening news conference that the body had sustained some damage from the fire.

The victim appears to be a Caucasian male between 20 and 35 years old with short black hair, Dawson said, adding a citizen walking through the park had alerted police of the finding.

Investigators are still working on determining the victim’s identity. “If any family, friends, neighbours, anyone who you haven’t seen since Friday and you are unable to get in touch with — anything like that, we’d be very interested in,” said Dawson.

Police do not believe any of their missing person reports match the victim.

Dawson said she could not comment when asked how “rare” of a scenario this case is for investigators. However, Northwood Park has witnessed a gruesome slaying at least once before; in 2004, a 32-year-old man, Juan Jose Mancia, was found dead there after suffering blunt-force trauma to the head.

Dawson said police are canvassing the surrounding area for any leads. Investigators are also asking anyone who may have seen suspicious activity near the park to contact police.

There is no information on suspects.

Anyone with information is asked to contact police at 416-808-7400, or Crime Stoppers anonymously at 416-222-TIPS (8477)

We hope that this crime will be swiftly resolved.

Sources / More info: tst

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