Officers will be searching a landfill near London, Ont. for the remains of a missing 57-year-old Toronto man who homicide detectives say was murdered earlier this year.

As part of the investigation into the disappearance of Nathaniel Brettell, police say they have obtained a search warrant for the Green Lane Landfill, Toronto’s main waste management site located about 200 kilometres outside of the city in Southwold, Ont.

Brettell was last seen at his home in the Westona Street and Dixon Road area on Jan. 21, 2021 and there have been no further sightings of him.

Police previously said that officers investigating Brettell’s disappearance attended his residence on Feb. 2 and upon arrival, a man came out of one of the rooms and attacked them with a butcher knife.

The man, identified by police as 34-year-old Ahmed Al-Farkh, was arrested and charged with numerous offences, including two counts of attempted murder.

After a full forensic investigation of the scene and a review of video evidence, police said they determined that Brettell had been murdered.

Al-Farkh was subsequently charged with second-degree murder in connection with Brettell’s death.

The missing man’s body has not yet been found but police said Tuesday that a “development in the investigation” has led officers to believe that Brettell’s remains may be at the Green Lane Landfill site.

 

‘DIDN’T DESERVE THIS ENDING’

Speaking with CTV News Toronto Tuesday, Brettell’s cousin said he had faced a number of challenges in his life and didn’t deserve to have it end this way.

“He certainly didn’t deserve this ending,” Tom Penwarden said.

Brettell lived with Asperger’s and other disabilities that made him a target for bullies, Penwarden said.

“I would go so far to say a man who spent most of his life being treated like garbage by many people, that he would have his final resting place in a garbage dump is simply intolerable. It would be just a final cruelty that we could not accept,” he said.

He also said he’s not sure why it took so long for the search for his cousin’s body to get underway.

“I don’t know why it took four months to get in there. Emotionally, the tough part of it is, that every day that goes by may not help us,” he said.

The excavation of the site, which will begin on July 5, is expected to be ongoing for the next couple of months and will include multiple units, including the homicide and K9 units, police say.

“Residents in the area of the landfill will be informed of any potential impacts that may result from the search. However, it is not expected to impact garbage collection in Toronto,” investigators said in a news release issued Tuesday.

The landfill receives about 50 truckloads of trash per day and one retired officer told CTV News Toronto that the best hope for search teams would be to find detailed records about where the trucks deposited their loads each day.

“If the owners of the landfill were pretty careful as to where refuse was being dumped on certain weeks and certain days, they may be able to actually narrow down a number of acres,” retired Toronto Police Detective Mark Mendelson said.

Officers are urging anyone with information about the case to contact police or Crime Stoppers anonymously.

-          With files from CTV News Toronto’s Jon Woodward