Investigators in Hamilton say they are searching an Ontario landfill for any evidence that could lead them to a missing 40-year-old woman.
Shalini Singh was last seen by family and friends at around 7:10 p.m. on Dec. 4, 2024. She was reported missing by her concerned family about a week later on Dec. 10, police said.
Police said that at the time of her disappearance, Singh was living with her common-law boyfriend at a downtown Hamilton apartment building.
Singh’s boyfriend was also reported missing at the same time but was found on Dec. 11 after going to a family member’s home outside of Hamilton in Halton Region, police said.
Investigators said Singh’s boyfriend has “not cooperated with the investigation” into her disappearance and has “provided no information that could assist in locating Shalini.”
“Despite searching the building several times, police have not located any evidence relating to her disappearance,” investigators said.
This included hundreds of hours of surveillance video from the building, up to 40 cameras, to trace Singh and her boyfriend’s movements in the days around her disappearance, police said.
They noted there is no CCTV footage showing Singh leaving her building after Dec. 4.
Police believe she may have been killed, disposed through garbage system
“Police are investigating the possibility that Shalini was killed in her apartment and removed from the building through the building’s garbage disposal system,” Hamilton police said.
Police said early in the investigation, investigators learned that some of the apartment building’s garbage might still be at the Kenora Waste Transfer Station. Garbage was secured and searched on Dec. 15 but police found nothing.
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The majority of the waste collected from the apartment building had already been moved to Glanbrook Landfill, just outside of Hamilton in Caledonia, Ont., police said.
“Over the past few weeks, investigators have been planning and coordinating a systematic search of the landfill site,” police said, adding that the work began on Monday and is expected to take several weeks — up to six weeks possibly.
Hamilton Police Acting Det. Sgt. Daryl Reid told reporters at a press conference they will not be disclosing Singh’s boyfriend’s status in the case, nor his identity. They have not said there are any suspects or person’s of interest.
“In prolonged investigations like this, that status can change from time to time in both directions. And I’m not prepared to label him as a certain classification,” Reid said.
“All I can say is we’re just looking into his involvement and possible involvement in her disappearance.”
Reid said the boyfriend was known to police for previous incidents before Singh disappeared.
He added based on surveillance footage, she was last seen entering the apartment on Dec. 2.
The boyfriend was previously living at the apartment, but no longer lives there, Reid said, as Singh went missing and was the only one to legally have control of the apartment and property management would only allow her back into the unit.
Reid described the building’s garbage system as a large downtown apartment building with garbage chute access located on every floor, but that residents do need to leave their units to access the chute.
“This is a very large search,” Reid said. “This is the first time the Hamilton police have undertaken a task such as this. There will be anywhere between 15 and 20 officers there each day of the week, Monday to Friday.”
Singh’s friend, Amanda Bobitt, spoke to Global News and said the police investigation into the landfill search is “horrifying news.”
“Obviously, we don’t want this to be what happened but we’ll see where the investigation goes,” Bobitt said.
“It feels so crazy and surreal when it’s someone you know that’s involved in a story like this.”
Bobitt said she just hopes the police continue the search for Singh and that anyone who knows anything should come forward in order to get closure on what happened to her friend.
Singh is described as having a light complexion, about five feet four inches tall and around 120 pounds. She has brown eyes and shoulder-length black hair.
Police previously said it is believed that she does not have access to a car and her photo was provided by family to investigators to aid in their search for her.
Anyone with information is asked to contact police.
— With files from Global News’ Sean O’Shea
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