An autopsy conducted on the remains of a mummified baby found in the floor or a Toronto attic has determined the child did not die from physical trauma or disease.
Results concluded the child was a full-term newborn baby with no congenial defects that would have lead to death.
The autopsy confirmed the child was a boy, but it's not known whether the infant was born dead or alive.
The exact age of the remains has yet to be determined.
Renovator Bob Kinghorn made the grisly discovery on Tuesday at a house near Broadview Avenue and Queen Street East. The infant was found wrapped in a 1925 newspaper in the second-floor ceiling of the east-end home.
Toronto homicides detectives are investigating the case and the mummified infant's remains are being examined at the Centre for Forensic Science in Toronto.
A forensic anthropologist says a "50-year rule" may be crucial in determining how the mysterious case of a baby found mummified in a Toronto house will be handled.
But the case may fizzle should investigators decide it is of no forensic interest, experts say.
"Generally in Ontario, the Office of the Chief Coroner has a rule of thumb that remains discovered, say 50 years after the death or more are not really of forensic interest," Dr. Scott Fairgrieve, chair of the Forensic Science Department at Laurentian University told CTV's Canada AM.
"So what's going to happen in this instance likely is that the coroner's office will have to make a determination on how many resources they want to put into this case. Specifically, I would say the first order of business is going to be to determine how long ago this child was actually put in the wall."
Fairgrieve said the fact that the baby was wrapped in a newspaper confirms the baby was not hidden in the house before 1925. While the newspaper does provide a clue, the exact date of death of the infant could have been many years later.
The age and sex of the child will also among the first things that will be determined through the investigation and will be done through using X-ray technology on the remains. While the sex of the baby is more difficult to determine, any remaining soft tissue will assist greatly in this identification.
However in addition to the forensic analysis that needs to take place, the investigation also has a potential legal obstacle.
"If this child happened to be an unwanted pregnancy and had gone to term, obviously and then the remains disposed of -- and if the mother of the child was 15 at the time -- consider that mother would now to be 97 years old," Faigrieve said. "If it was from in fact 1925, who do you prosecute? It's quite likely the parents of this child are dead themselves now."
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.
It's not known if the baby belonged to the couple.
Police have said that the current homeowners are not suspects in the case.
With files from The Canadian Press
