Police are looking to the public for help in identifying a homicide victim found at the scene of a house fire in Oshawa last week after investigators “exhausted all traditional means of identification.”
Police said officers were called to a home on Court Street at around 9:50 a.m. on March 6 to assist Oshawa fire crews.
Firefighters extinguished a blaze at the home and one person was found dead inside.
One day later, police said its homicide unit had taken over investigating the blaze after a post-mortem was completed that “determined the victim suffered trauma to the body, which investigators believe is indicative of a homicide.”
The Ontario Fire Marshal also deemed the fire suspicious in nature, police said.
Fire chief Derrick Clark said it looked like the blaze started in multiple spots.
Police said the victim was described as a man, around 25 years old, five-foot-11 to six-feet tall, and 160 to 190 pounds.
His hair was shaved at the sides with two long braids, was possibly of southeast Asian decent and might have gone by the nickname “Ox,” investigators said.
“If this likeness is familiar to you or if anyone has new information, they are asked to contact the Major Crimes Homicide Unit,” police said.