Toronto police release sketch of young girl found in Rosedale dumpster

Toronto police are set to provide an update Tuesday on their investigation into the death of a young girl whose remains were found in a Rosedale dumpster last month.

Investigators have released a composite sketch of the girl that's been completed by a forensic artist from the Ontario Provincial Police. Police also say they have identified a vehicle of interest, a dark-coloured Porsche Cayenne SUV from the models years 2011 to 2014.

Police are scheduled to update the media from police headquarters at 1:30 P.M.

Early last month, Toronto police announced they'd found the human remains of a young girl, possibly between the age of four to seven years old, in a dumpster outside an unoccupied beige brick bungalow on Dale Avenue, near Castle Frank subway station.

She was described as Black, of African or mixed African descent, and about three-foot-six with a thin build. Police said she had black curly hair that was sectioned in four short ponytails, two of which were braided and secured with black and blue elastic bands."

Her cause of death had not yet been determined.

Investigators say they believe the remains were left in the area between Thursday, April 28, 2022, at 12 p.m., and Monday May 2, 2022, at 4:45 p.m.

Speaking to reporters last month, investigators described what few clues they had into the girl's identity, including that her tiny body was found wrapped in a baby blanket decorated with pastel butterflies and a second piece of distinctive patterned fabric.

Kids don't just die," Toronto police Insp. Hank Idsinga, head of the force's homicide and missing persons unit, said.

Investigators at the time said they believe someone placed her body in the dumpster only within the last few days before she was found - but she died long before, as early as the summer or fall of 2021 or even earlier.

The estimated date of her death had to be determined by a pathologist through forensic entomology, the scientific study of insects.

We will get to the bottom of it ... no matter what it takes," Idsinga told reporters.

Anyone with information is asked to contact police at 416-808-5300, Crime Stoppers anonymously at 416-222-TIPS (8477), or at www.222tips.com.

More to come.

Wendy Gillis is a Toronto-based reporter covering crime and policing for the Star. Reach her by email at wgillis@thestar.ca or follow her on Twitter: @wendygillis