While the city saw fewer homicides in 2017 than in 2016, the Toronto Police Service is dealing with more unsolved murders this year.
There were 61 homicides in 2017, 11 fewer than in 2016, but as the year comes to a close, 36 of those homicides remain unsolved, five more than the number at the end of last year.
Here is a look at some of the murders that the homicide unit is still working to solve:
Tess Richey:
Four days after Tess Richey was reported missing on Nov. 25, the 22-year-old’s lifeless body was discovered near Church and Dundonald streets. Family previously said she was out with friends when she was last seen in the area of Church and Wellesley streets in the early morning hours of Nov. 25. When her body was found, police initially told reporters that her death was not considered to be suspicious but an autopsy revealed her cause of death to be “neck compression.” The homicide unit is currently leading the case and the police service’s professional standards unit is looking into how officers handled the initial stages of the investigation. To date, a suspect has not been identified.
Virgil Jack:
Shortly before 1 a.m. on Aug. 19., the body of 31-year-old Virgil Jack was found half-submerged in a stream in Derrydowns Park.
Jack, who was pronounced dead at the scene, had suffered multiple stab wounds.
The newlywed, whose husband lived outside of Canada, lived in the Keele and Finch area, not far from where her body was found. Her roommate and Jack’s sister, who was visiting at the time, said they did not believe she was meeting anyone on the night she disappeared.
Police said Jack worked a full-time job and lived a quiet life and her death has left investigators with many unanswered questions.
Police have not yet released any information about possible suspects.
Dameion McFarland:
Investigators said Dameion McFarland was at the wrong place at the wrong time when he was shot to death in the doorway of a North York apartment unit on Feb. 1.
Investigators say the 35-year-old, who had planned to leave Canada the day after he was killed, was inside a unit on the seventh floor of the building when three suspects approached the unit. McFarland, who was described by investigators as a “hard-working,” “innocent” man, was shot before he could full open the door, police said.
Video footage of the suspects was released but police have not yet identified the perpetrators.
Simon Giannini:
In a busy downtown restaurant on a Saturday night, a lone gunman walked up to the table of Simon Giannini and fired multiple shots at the 54-year-old realtor. The shooting shocked patrons who hid underneath tables to hide from the gunfire. Giannini was rushed to a trauma centre without vital signs and was later pronounced dead. Police previously said they believe the shooting was targeted but it is not yet known why someone wanted to kill the well-known real estate broker.
Zakariye Ali:
Police say 16-year-old Zakariye Ali was in the parking lot of Kingsview Village Junior School with two other males when the three were shot by an unknown suspect. Ali was rushed to hospital in critical condition but later died from his injuries. A few days later, a group of seven people, who were all either friends or family of Ali, were shot at. No suspects have been identified in Ali’s murder. The young man’s death was followed by a call from a community group for more support from the province to deal with ongoing gun violence in the Dixon Road neighbourhood.
