A picture is starting to emerge of the young man accused of strangling 22-year old Tess Richey.
A woman who claims she became fast friends with 21-year old Kalen Schlatter last spring says the allegations come as 'a shock.'
Schlatter was arrested Sunday night and charged with second-degree murder in connection with Richey's death.
NEWSTALK 1010 will not reveal the woman's identity because she fears backlash over her connection to Schlatter but she says the two met last April at a nightclub in the Church-and-Wellesley area.
She insists that their friendship was never romantic but that they exchanged phone numbers.
She claims to have met up with Schlatter about 5 times before heading back home to the United States, and on one occasion met his family.
"He's not a person who is lacking something, he's not a person who has a mental disorder ... he's always outgoing and always friendly," she says.
Schlatter's friend says they kept in touch online and would chat occasionally.
They sent messages back and forth as recently as last week and she claims that he never gave her any indication that something was wrong, or that he was in any kind of trouble.
The woman describes Schlatter as 'a really sweet guy' who is 'kind and adventurous' and had a talent for art and wood carving.
She says Schlatter spoke lovingly of his mother and adds that after spending time with his family it was clear that they are 'very close.'
Schlatter, she says, did construction work for his father's company but his parents hoped that he would go back to school and settle into a career.
Toronto Police have described Richey's killing as a 'crime of opportunity.'
Richey was reported missing in the on the morning of November 25.
Her mother found her body several days later in a stairwell outside a building that's only a few doors away from where Richey was last seen alive.