Four years since Wasaga Beach kidnapping, presumed murder of Elnaz Hajtamiri

Warning: Readers may find details in this report disturbing and triggering.

It has now been four years since the disappearance and presumed murder of Elnaz Hajtamiri, the Richmond Hill woman police say was kidnapped from a home in Wasaga Beach, leading to the arrests of 11 people, including her former boyfriend.

Provincial police vow to continue the investigation into Hajtamiri’s abduction and death, releasing a renewed plea for the public’s help in the case. Police said investigators have identified potential ties to Timmins, the Greater Toronto Area, Québec, and Dubai, United Arab Emirates.

Despite pleas from her family to have Elnaz Hajtamiri returned home, the woman, who was 37 at the time, has not been seen or heard from since, and police believe she is dead.

Investigators said three men wearing balaclavas posing as police officers with a fake warrant for Hajtamiri’s arrest ripped her from the home along Trailwood Place at about 8:30 p.m. on Jan. 12, 2022. Witnesses told police Hajtamiri was loaded barefoot into what investigators believe was a stolen white Lexus SUV.

To date 11 men and women have been charged in the case. Mohamad Lilo, Hajtamiri’s ex-boyfriend, is at the centre of it all, according to investigators who have charged Lilo with first-degree murder and kidnapping.

Initially investigators said Hajtamiri’s disappearance did not appear to be tied to organized crime. Her loved ones said her vehicle was later found to have tracking devices on it and that she had broken up with Lilo months earlier.

Police confirmed Hajtamiri worked with Lilo, who ran a shipping container business. Arrested in Quebec months later, Lilo was brought to Ontario and has been behind bars for three-and-a-half years. He is set to stand trial for Hajtamiri’s presumed murder this spring.

Lilo was convicted of aggravated assault in an attack on Hajtamiri days before Christmas in 2021 when Elnaz was attacked inside her Richmond Hill parking garage. Hajtamiri was hit in the head with a frying pan and would’ve been abducted were it not for a passerby chasing the men off.

Those two men were later picked up in Edmonton for stealing Ford F-150 pickup trucks. They’ve since pleaded guilty to assaulting Hajtamiri. She had gone into hiding in Wasaga Beach, living with loved ones at the request of police in York Region.

Charges against seven other men and women accused of being part of the Richmond Hill attack or the Wasaga Beach kidnapping have either been withdrawn or stayed by the Crown.

Police said a joint $100,000 reward is still being offered by the Government of Ontario and York Regional Police for information that will lead to Elnaz’s whereabouts.

The allegations against the accused have not been tested in court.