Stabbing victim a student from China
Woman, 31, was seeking a tenant
TIMOTHY APPLEBY
September 6, 2008
A 31-year-old Chinese expatriate student found bound and stabbed to death in her North York home Tuesday night had been seeking to sublet a room in her rented two-bedroom apartment and several prospective tenants had visited, detectives said yesterday.
Police had not immediately named the victim, pending notification of her parents, who live in a remote part of China. But she has now been identified as Yuan (Tracy) Tian, who recently completed an economics degree at the University of Guelph after arriving in Canada in 2005 and initially studying at the University of Windsor.
Found lying on the floor of her home with her hands tied behind her, Ms. Tian died of multiple stab wounds, an autopsy yesterday concluded. There was no overt sign of a sexual assault, Detective Sergeant Frank Skubic said.
Ms. Tian was looking for a roommate because her older brother had recently moved out of the four-storey building to go to the United States to pursue a job opportunity, Det. Sgt. Skubic said.
The pair had shared a unit on the top floor of the Talara Drive building in the Bayview Village neighbourhood near Highway 401.
Her body was discovered by her boyfriend, who called 911 and who, after extensive police interviews and an examination of his car, is not viewed as a suspect.
Ms. Tian's hunt for a tenant, advertised on a Chinese-language website, is only one area under scrutiny, Det. Sgt. Skubic said. "There are a number of theories we are investigating."
Ms. Tian had had previous boyfriends, he said.
Another line of inquiry involves complaints by tenants about a possible peeping Tom, seen hovering around the building and peering through ground-floor windows.
A preliminary inspection of the apartment showed no sign of a robbery, Det. Sgt. Skubic said. However, police had still not conducted a thorough examination because they were awaiting a search warrant, a process delayed because several names are on the apartment lease.
Ms. Tian's death was Toronto's 46th homicide of the year.
"This is an incredibly sad situation and we send our condolences to her family," said University of Guelph spokeswoman Lori Bona Hunt, who said that Ms. Tian completed her economics degree this summer and was awaiting her graduation.
Meanwhile, in a separate case, the former custodians of a seven-year-old girl allegedly beaten to death while in their care have had charges of second-degree murder upgraded to first-degree murder.
Donna Irving, 29, and her boyfriend Warren Johnson, 46, were charged after Katelynn Sampson was found dead in their Parkdale home Aug. 3.
Despite a criminal record for drugs, prostitution and violence, Ms. Irving had been given full custody of Katelynn because the child's mother, Bernice Sampson, was unable to care for her.
The charges were raised to first-degree murder yesterday on grounds that Katelynn had been confined during the abuse, which produced injuries that one detective described as the worst of their kind he had yet seen.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/s ... 6//TPStory/National |
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发表于 2008-9-6 09:55:58
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