A Toronto neurosurgeon charged with first-degree murder appeared in court at Old City Hall at 10 a.m. Saturday.
He has been remanded into custody until his next court appearance on Dec. 20.
The suspect was wearing a white jumpsuit during the brief appearance and spoke softly when asked by the judge whether he understood the proceedings.
A body was discovered in a wooded area near a ravine off Highway 27 and Nashville Road around 3:30 p.m. in Kleinburg on Thursday.
Friday night, Toronto police identified the victim as Elana Fric Shamji, 40, of Toronto.
Det. Sgt. Steve Ryan told CP24 Shamji was last heard from on Wednesday evening.
She was a family doctor who worked at The Scarborough Hospital.
She did not show up to work on Thursday.
Ryan said investigators believe she was killed in her home, located in North York, sometime between Wednesday night and Thursday morning.
The cause of death was strangulation and blunt-force trauma.
In a statement provided to CP24 on Saturday morning, a spokesperson for the University Health Network called the homicide “shocking and saddening.”
“The organization is sad about the whole situation. Our work is with the patients and families. That is being done,” Gillian Howard said. “We will have another neurosurgeon for all of the families and patients affected. This is now a police matter"
Mohammed Shamji, 40, of Toronto was arrested and charged on Friday.
Ryan said he was taken into custody at a coffee shop in the area of Lakeshore Road East and Highway 10 in Mississauga.
Shamji is a neurosurgeon at Toronto Western Hospital.
Ryan said the couple had been married for approximately 12 years and had three children