11-year-old Ontario girl, subject of Amber Alert, found dead

infoslink (68)in #amberalert • 5 years ago

An 11-year-old girl, who was allegedly abducted by her father after he took her out for her birthday Thursday afternoon, has been found dead at a home west of Toronto.

Her father was arrested shortly after the discovery of her body and is expected to be formally charged Friday.

Peel police issued an Amber Alert after 11 p.m. Thursday, several hours after 41-year-old Roopesh Rajkumar failed to return his daughter, Riya, to her mother.

The father made threats to harm his daughter and himself to his former girlfriend, Peel police spokesperson Danny Marttini told reporters Friday morning. The girl’s mother alerted police at around 7 p.m. on Thursday, triggering an investigation to locate the two before the Amber Alert was issued.

"She came in already fully concerned saying, 'This is what he's saying to me, I'm concerned for the well-being of my daughter, I need some help,"' Marttini said. "Obviously our investigators took action right away."

The girl did not live with her father on a full-time basis, police said, but was dropped off at a gas station in Mississauga, Ont., at about 3 p.m. so he and the girl could celebrate her birthday.

Investigators located the girl’s body in a Brampton, Ont. duplex about midnight. Her father was arrested by Ontario Provincial Police in what has been described as a “high-risk takedown” shortly after in Orillia, Ont., about 130 kilometres north.

Tips from citizens responding to the Amber Alert led to his arrest, say police.

Investigators will speak with Crown attorneys Friday to determine charges, said Marttini. Meanwhile, forensics teams are combing the Brampton home for evidence.

"Because there is a level of the severity of the case, there's obviously the potential for first-degree (murder), second-degree or manslaughter," Marttini said in a telephone interview with The Canadian Press.

"That conversation has to happen between our homicide bureau and the Crown attorney ... That is the spectrum of charges we're looking at."

Police could not say how the Brampton home is connected to Rajkumar and his family but it’s believed he was renting a portion of the residence.

Thursday was Riya’s 11th birthday, police said.

Police tape is seen outside of a house where a young girl was found dead in Brampton, Ont. on Friday, February 15, 2019.

“As a parent, I can’t even begin to imagine what the mom is going through and it’s something that we never want to be involved in, but it’s a terrible situation.”