11-year-old Ontario girl subject of Amber Alert found dead, police say

MISSISSAUGA, Ont. — An 11-year-old girl who was allegedly abducted by her father and subject of an Amber Alert on Thursday night has been found dead at a home west of Toronto, police said.

Peel regional police issued the alert at 11 p.m. Thursday, several hours after 41-year-old Roopesh Rajkumar failed to return his daughter, Riya, to her mother.

“(He) has since made comments indicating he was going to harm himself and his daughter,” police said Thursday night before the girl’s body was found in Brampton, Ont.

The girl did not live with her father on a full-time basis, police said, but was dropped off at a gas station in Mississauga, Ont., at about 3 p.m. so he could take her out for her birthday.

Const. Taryn Hill, spokeswoman with Peel police, said Riya’s mother called the authorities when the pair did not return at 6:30 p.m.

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“Because of the seriousness of this, we had investigators respond right away,” Hill said in an interview Friday.

“So, once we exhausted all investigation means, that’s when we met the criteria to have an Amber Alert released.”

Riya was found dead around midnight, Hill said, and her father was arrested by provincial police a short time later about 130 kilometres north, near Orillia, Ont.

Police could not say how the Brampton home is connected to Rajkumar and his family.

Hill said Peel police’s homicide and missing persons unit have taken over the investigation.

The Canadian Press