A Toronto man is now facing an upgraded charge of first-degree murder in the death of Tess Richey, a young woman who disappeared and was later found dead in the city’s Church-Wellesley neighbourhood.
Richey was reported missing on Nov. 25, 2017 after a night out with a friend at a bar in the downtown neighbourhood.
Four days later, her mother found her body in an outdoor stairwell of a building under construction in the area of Church and Dundonald streets.
Police initially said Richey’s death was not being considered suspicious. However an autopsy revealed that she died of neck compression and the homicide unit took over the case on Dec.1, 2017.
On February 4, police announced that they had charged 21-year-old Kalen Schlatter with second-degree murder in Richey’s death.
In a news release Wednesday, Police said they have now upgraded the charge against Schlatter to first-degree murder.
The suspect is scheduled to make a court appearance on Thursday.
Richey’s sister and mother took to Twitter on Wednesday to thank police for their work on the case.
“This is the best news we could hope for in this situation. Thank you Toronto Police detectives Ted Lioumanis and Graham Gibson for their tireless efforts in Tess’ case. Their diligence has brought Tess the justice she deserves and, we hold out hope, will continue to get throughout the court process,” Rachel Richey tweeted on Wednesday afternoon.
“Until that time we find strength in our remaining numbers and will continue to honour and remember Tess and the joy and love she brought to so many lives. She was the heart of our family.”
Richey’s case came amid a number of disappearances stemming from Toronto’s Church and Wellesley neighbourhood and LGBTQ community.
Her subsequent death, along with that of several gay men previously reported missing, stirred criticism about how police conduct missing persons cases.
Toronto Police Chief Mark Saunders later announced that the force’s professional standards unit would look into the case and how it was handled.
Earlier this month, further in response to growing criticism, Saunders said a dedicated Toronto police missing persons unit is in the works.
Toronto Mayor John Tory is expected to formally call for an external review into the way Toronto Police Service handles missing persons reporters at a police services board meeting scheduled Thursday.
Speaking with CP24 on Wednesday night, Tory said changes on how missing persons cases are handled need to be made.
“(It will be) an external review that looks at the whole question of missing persons and how they are handled. It looks at best practices for missing persons and tries to figure out if there are flaws in the system, tries to figure out if there are elements of discrimination or bias involved in how the police look for missing persons against any group that has protections under the human rights code, including people in the LGBTQ community,” he said.
