Toronto police to provide update on girl whose remains were found in dumpster last year

Toronto police are set to provide an update on Thursday about a young girl whose remains were found in a dumpster in the city's Rosedale neighbourhood over a year ago.

Insp. Hank Idsinga, from the homicide and missing person unit, is scheduled to speak at 5 p.m. You can watch that news conference in this story.

The girl has not yet been identified and there's been no word on the cause of her death. To generate tips from the public, police previously released a composite sketch of her, a photo of a vehicle of interest and images of two pieces of cloth.

The girl's remains were found in a dumpster outside an unoccupied home that was under construction on Dale Avenue near Castle Frank Road, north of Bloor Street East, on May 2, 2022. Police were called to the area at about 4:45 p.m. that day.

According to police, the remains were found wrapped in a crocheted blanket inside a plastic bag, which in turn was wrapped in another blanket.

Police released a description of the girl, saying she was likely between the ages of four to seven, and of African or mixed African descent. According to police, she was three feet, six inches tall, with a thin build. Her black curly hair was sectioned in four short ponytails, two of which were braided and tied with black and blue elastics. She had all her teeth.

Investigators believe the remains were left in the area between April 28, at 12 p.m. and May 2, at 4:45 p.m. But police have said the girl may have been dead as early as the summer or fall of 2021 or earlier.

Investigators said they had planned to review cases of missing children to try to determine her identity.

According to police, Toronto's Office of Forensic Pathology had planned to piece together a timeline and to determine contributing factors to her death.