Toronto Police detectives have arrested and charged a suspect in connection with the killing of 22-year old Tess Richey.
Her body was found late last November in the Church-and-Wellesley area, a few days after she went missing.
Richey was found by her mother at the bottom of a stairwell outside a building that was under renovation.
It was just a few doors away from where she was last seen.
Richey had been out at a night club with a friend, before they left to meet up with a man at around 1:30am.
Results of an autopsy showed she died of 'neck compression.'
Police had been looking for a man Richey had met up with that night.
21-year-old Kalen Schlatter has been arrested and charged with second-degree murder.
Richey's sister posted a statement on Facebook on behalf of the family:
Full text of the statement:
I’m not quite sure how to make an announcement such as this, as no matter what I learnt in law school nothing could quite prepare me for any of this. At approximately 11:25 pm last night we received the call we have all been waiting for yet we never imagined we’d have to ever receive. The person who allegedly took our Tessie’s precious life has been arrested on 2nd degree murder charges and wasn’t even at the station yet as the detective called to tell us the news.
We knew they were onto the suspect as we had been strongly advised that postering was not necessary many weeks ago as well as other information that led to us repeatedly stating that we were happy with the progress of the investigation.
We obviously have a long road ahead of us and in the interest of not doing anything to prejudice any stage of the judicial process we don’t have anything to say or any information we wish to share with anyone. Please understand.
I would advise you to wait for the facts at trial and to rely on our endorsement of CTV, CBC and CP24 as (at the time of this writing) they really cared about Tess and the other victims of homicide in the Church and Wellesley area and not just the ‘story’.
This is not a celebration for us but it is a victory of sorts and we would now like to finally focus our energy and attention on honouring and remembering the best and zaniest little sister any of us Richey girls ever could have asked for.
I would also like to to thank all those who shared Tess’ missing persons post and the photo of the POI as well as all those who postered, sent in tips, offered use of resources, given us and continue to give us (which will go on legal fees) monetary aid and of course, the kind words of support and love we’ve been shown.
This morning we have an arraignment to attend where we will have to use all the strength and energy we can muster to be dignified while staring at the alleged evil who destroyed our family. There will be a big press release this afternoon/evening which will give you some information as we prepare for the next step as unwilling participants in this unfolding nightmare.
I know it’s been difficult watching our pain, fear and grief from the fringes and for that we can only apologise but we know if the roles were reversed we would be your biggest champions for justice too.
With all the love in the world,
Varina Richey