The man accused of killing Tess Richey near Church and Wellesley last fall has been denied bail.
21-year-old Kalen Schlatter is charged with first-degree murder in Richey's death.
While a publication ban prevents us from sharing Justice Brian O'Marra's reasons for keeping Schlatter behind bars, the decision prompted an explosion of emotion from someone who appeared to be a friend or relative of the accused killer.
A woman with dark haired piled on top of her head began gasping for air as if she couldn't breathe. She leaned over, bringing her flushed face close to her knees.
In the prisoner's box Schlatter had been sitting up still and straight, listening to O'Marra. But as Schlatter learned his bail application had been denied, his shoulders rounded, he stared into his lap and let out a deep sigh.
Police have said Richey and Schlatter did not know each other before the night she was killed and that the 22-year-old died of "neck compression".
Richey's family reported her missing when she didn't come home from a night out with friends in the village. It was the young woman's mother who found her daughter's dead body at the bottom of a stairwell of a building under construction, metres away from where she was last seen.
The Richey family / Facebook
The case drew outrage from Richey's family and the public, prompting Toronto Police Chief Mark Saunders to review how the service handles missing persons reports.
In June constables Alan McCullough and Michael Jones were charged with misconduct for neglect of duty under Ontario's Police Services Act.