By Scott Laurie
Mississauga, Ontario (CTV/CNN) - Police in Ontario have a mystery on their hands. They've found several human body parts in two locations all within the last week.
As officers continue their grim search, a major development in this disturbing case.
"Remains found in Toronto now confirmed to be human," said Sgt. Pete Brandwood with the Peel Region Police Department.
In six days police have recovered a human head, foot, hands, and a police source says a thing, two calves, and an arm.
"And there are obviously similarities from an investigative standpoint between the body parts found in Toronto and the body parts We've been finding in this river," said Sgt. Brandwood.
All those parts are from a female they're trying to identify.
"We have a female victim, who unfortunately we've been able to find portions of her body in two jurisdictions," said Sgt. Brandwood.
From Toronto, the man who found the latest parts: "It's a thigh of the leg. It's a thigh. You could see the bone. You could see everything. The smell was horrible."
"We are all shocked! We are all shocked because it just doesn't happen in this neighborhood," said a horrified neighbor.
It was a newspaper journalist, covering the Toronto search, who notified police about a suspicious bag.
"I knew the minute I poked a hole. The flesh color, the bone protruding. It was definitely human remains," said Ale Brazao, a photojournalist with the Toronto Star.
The creek in Toronto is about 52 kilometers away from where the first parts were found. Two dozen search officers continue to search along part of the river that's been combed, about 25 kilometers in length, all the way to Lake Ontario.
The search in Toronto appears to be over, but police expect forensic investigators to be gathering evidence for the next two days. In the meantime there are families out there, the police won't say how many, who are in the middle of a frightening wait to find out if their loved one is at the center of these horrifying discoveries.
"Investigators have been in touch with those who we reasonably believe (might know) who the victim could be. And they are trying to soften the blow," said Sgt. Brandwood.
This week long mystery, a blow to investigators and searchers, is deepening.
CTV/CNN