Police are combing an Ontario river on Friday after a severed head and foot were found in and near the waterway this week.
“We have a foot and a head at this point. We’ll be looking for the entire victim,” acting Inspector Randy Cowan of the Peel Regional Police told reporters Thursday in a news conference near the Credit River in Mississauga.
Cowan said the head was that of a woman and the foot had painted toenails, leading authorities to suspect it was also from a woman. However, tests would be needed to conclude they were from the same victim, he said. The foot was found Wednesday and the head on Thursday.
“Common sense tells us this is most likely related,” he said.
A cause of death had not been determined, Cowan said.
“Without a cause of death we can't call it homicide, but certainly foul play — there's definitely something amiss," Cowan told reporters.
The inspector said the body parts were likely from an adult.
“The size of the remains would indicate it is not a child,” he said. Decomposition meant the race of the remains could not immediately be determined, he said.
The remains were found about a kilometer apart along the river, which runs near Hewick Meadows Park in the city of 700,000 west of Toronto not far from Lake Ontario. Cowan said they had likely been in the river for a short time, weeks on the high end.
Police were checking into missing persons cases from the immediate area and others upriver for leads into the case, Cowan said.
The area around where the body parts were found is a quiet residential one, according to a report from CNN affiliate CBC.
The Mississauga case is the second involving body parts to make big headlines in Canada this year.
In May, a human foot was mailed to the headquarters of the ruling Conservative Party in Ottawa. Remains, but not an entire body, were also found by a janitor behind a Montreal apartment building.
Luka Rocco Magnotta, a 29-year-old porn actor, was arrested and charged with first-degree murder in that case in June. He pleaded not guilty.
Body parts linked to the Magnotta case were also mailed to schools in British Columbia, according to authorities.
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@Keylly51
You asked " Why do you canuks like to cut up your victims?"
The more important question is "Where do they get Candian bacon?
I've even made jokes here, but this was a horrible crime committed here to a living person and we as a society are numb to this violence now. that bothers me a great deal. A very sad day for her family
North America. The Global crime capital of planet earth.
Really? Yeah, like crime doesn't happen in other parts of the world...
Not even close, pal. But I have to admit there has been a lot of "choppers" coming out of the woodwork up here. Google "British Columbia feet" for the curious.
CNN: The foot was found Wednesday and the head on Thursday.
Jeff We'll see what turns up Monday, Tuesday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Won't we?
What is it, with Canada and floating severed limbs?
I was going to say, Well, they finally found my foot, now maybe I can get a head. But that would be terribly inappropriate on this thread, so I won't.
It woulda been funny if you had typed it though. Oh well.
Let's go out on a limb here and surmise that someone said "let's head on out" tonight... and took it seriously.
@ chrissy, BOMBO's comment was dripping with sarcasm directed at the statement –> A cause of death had not been determined, Cowan said.
Clearly a head, when separated from the body is the cause...the authorities are looking for how the head was severed in order to determine cause of death.
@ bobcat (in a hat) I would have LMAO'd if you would have said what you were going to!
Clearly, you do not understand that the cause of death may or may not be related to the severing of the head.
The person could have been shot through the heart (cause of death), and then dismembered (severed head).
At least they got a-head in the case...
Meh... We have like, 19 per month and dong go showing off. Damn canadians!
How far from Long Island???
Anyone?
524 miles
It's 250 miles.
“Common sense tells us this is most likely related." Hmmm. An understatement?
Haha, beat me to it!
Would you prefer the usual "we're not ready to make that statement until further tests are conducted"?
"“Common sense tells us this is most likely related,” he said."
DING, DING, DING!...and we have a winner for the 2012 Captain Obvious Award!
If it isn't the same victim, I'll eat the foot.
Update : They found 2 hands an hour ago.
A 'friendly monkey'?
Thanks,
Hope