Toronto police are now investigating the death of a woman found in a house fire Wednesday as a homicide, saying a man who died from injuries sustained in the fire is believed to be responsible for her death.
On Wednesday, crews responded to a fire at a home on Rusholme Road, north of College Street, just after midnight. Toronto paramedics said at the time that a woman had been pronounced dead at the scene, and four people were taken to hospital, one with critical injuries.
Police said Friday that the critically injured person, 27-year-old Roberto Mendez, later succumbed to his injuries.
The woman who died on scene has been identified as 27-year-old Jessica Denis Pérez Ocampo, police said at a news conference Friday.
Det. Sgt. Mike Taylor told reporters her death is believed to be the result of a homicide. He did not go into detail about the cause of her death, but said she “did sustain some trauma to her body.”
A woman is dead and a man is in hospital with life-threatening injuries after an overnight fire near College and Dufferin streets. CBC’s Ali Chiasson has more on the investigation.
Taylor said police believe Mendez, who lived at the residence, was responsible for the death of Ocampo. Police believe they were in a relationship, he said.
“This was not a random act. This was an isolated incident,” Taylor said.
The cause of the fire is still being investigated, but Taylor said it started in the basement of the house, where Ocampo’s body was found.
The young woman from Mexico was fairly new to Canada and did not live in the Dufferin Grove residence where the fire took place, a source confirmed to CBC Friday. Both Ocampo and Mendez lived in Toronto, Taylor said.
Pérez Ocampo’s mother and sister also live in Toronto, according to the source.
CBC Toronto reached out to her family Friday, but they requested privacy.
A GoFundMe has been set up in her name to raise funds for the family.
Taylor said the homicide unit is working with Toronto Fire Service and the Ontario Office of the Fire Marshall on the investigation.