Overview
- Police held a public briefing Thursday at Toronto Police Headquarters with Det. Sgt. Stephen Smith scheduled to speak about the long‑running investigation.
- Toronto police say they arrested a 43‑year‑old man from Hamilton and charged him with first‑degree murder in connection with Santos’s death.
- Investigators retained a DNA profile from the 2006 scene that did not match the national databank and later used investigative genetic genealogy and forensic testing to generate leads.
- Patrick Santos was found in his father’s Scarborough backyard on Sept. 17, 2006, with his hands and feet bound and died of asphyxiation after last speaking to his girlfriend at about 4:30 a.m.
- Santos’s mother has pressed for answers for two decades and the police update will determine whether charges move to court and what new evidence officials will publicly disclose.