Toronto homicides detectives are investigating what could be an 80-year-old murder mystery after a mummified infant wrapped in a 1925 newspaper was found in the attic floor of an east-end home.
Renovator Bob Kinghorn made the grisly discovery Tuesday night at the home on Kintyre Avenue, near Broadview Avenue and Queen Street East.
Kinghorn, who lives two doors away from the three-storey, semi-detached home, was about to drill a hole through a ceiling joist for wiring when he noticed a bundle of newspaper in the attic floor of the home.
He first thought it was insulation in the empty home.
"I pushed on it, just trying to guess what was in the package before I opened it and I felt the bones," Kinghorn told reporters outside the home.
The 37-year-old, and a co-worker, had noticed a strange smell in the room, but didn't realize what it was until he removed the package from the wall and sliced it open with a knife.
The infant, who he guessed was about four months of age, was in a fetal position wrapped in a bundle of newsprint dated Sept. 12, 1925. The baby's toes were sticking out.
"It was disbelief, I didn't believe it. I thought it was a cat, dog, or something.''
The Canadian Press reports a land title search revealed the property was bought in 1919. Provincial documents reveal the male homeowner died in February 1939, while his wife appears to have lived at the house until 1941, when she was admitted to Toronto's Ontario Hospital as a patient.
According to an affidavit, authorities took ownership of the home under the provincial Mental Hospitals Act after the female owner was admitted to the hospital.
It's not known if the baby belonged to the couple.
Kinghorn, 37, said he started to cry when he realized what he found because the remains reminded him of his own 4-month-old child.
He told reporters he hopes the child will receive a proper burial.
"I have three kids and for a child to be put in a hole with no burying, it's wrong; 83 years stuck in the wall," Kinghorn said.
Kinghorn's wife phoned the police, who arrived on the scene shortly after 8 p.m.
After obtaining a search warrant, a police forensic team and body removal crew entered the home.
Kinghorn said paramedics who came to the scene said it looked like the infant had a crushed hip.
The mummified infant's remains will be examined at the Centre for Forensic Science in Toronto and an autopsy will be performed on Wednesday.
The case is being investigated by the homicide squad.
Sgt. Robert Whalen said the current homeowners are not suspects in the case.
With a report from CTV Toronto's Roger Petersen and files from The Canadian Press
