The body of a man wanted for the first-degree murder of his ex-wife was found in an Etobicoke park on Friday, Peel Regional Police say.
Thirty-six-year-old Rakeshbhai Patel of Toronto was wanted on a Canada-wide warrant. That warrant has officially ended, police said.
In an updated news release sent out by police, investigators said they have positively identified the body found on Friday as Rakeshbhai’s.
“His death is not being pursued as a criminal investigation,” police wrote.
Rakeshbhai’s body was found by a dog walker, a police source told Global News. His 2009 Honda Civic was also found nearby, the source added.
His ex-wife, 28-year-old Heeral Patel of Toronto, was first reported missing to police by her brother on Jan. 11 after she failed to return home from work. A command post was set up to search for her.
Her body was found in a Brampton green space the following day in the area of Nexus Avenue and Fogal Road. Heeral’s body was also found by a dog walker.
Officers had deemed Heeral’s death suspicious and homicide detectives had taken over the investigation.
Global News learned through sources that Heeral died from strangulation, although police have not confirmed her cause of death publicly.
Heeral held down two jobs, one at the Villa Leonardo Gambin nursing home in Woodbridge and the other at a Tim Hortons in the west end of Toronto, according to people who knew her.
Peel Regional Police said Rakeshbhai was the lone suspect in the murder investigation.
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