HUNTER: Cops hit brick wall in Little Rosedale Jane Doe case

No one has come forward or uttered a peep.

And the ones who did were sadly mistaken.

But a little girl who died in the big city, likely a long way from home, is without a proper name. Right now, the child’s surname is the heartbreaking moniker, “Doe”

That a child could die suspiciously in one of the most advanced nations on the planet, her body dumped in one of its richest neighbourhoods and still have no name is simply shocking.

Toronto Police cold case head Det.-Sgt. Steve Smith called the search for the identity of Rosedale Jane Doe frustrating. https://smartcdn.gprod.postmedia.digital/torontosun/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/smith-e1653584456250.jpg?quality="90&strip=all&w=576 2x" height="455" loading="lazy" src="https://smartcdn.gprod.postmedia.digital/torontosun/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/smith-e1653584456250.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&w=288" width="549"/>
Toronto Police cold case head Det.-Sgt. Steve Smith called the search for the identity of Rosedale Jane Doe frustrating.Photo by SCREENGRAB /24 SHADES OF BLUE PODCAST

Detectives believe the girl was put in a dumpster at an empty Rosedale home sometime between April 28, at noon, and May 2, at 4:45 p.m. She probably died last fall or summer, but cops say her death could have come earlier.

The girl is between four and seven years old, Black of African or mixed-African descent.

You can hear the frustration in the voice of Det.-Sgt. Steve Smith of the Toronto Police cold case-missing persons unit.

Despite front-page coverage and repeated efforts on the ground and in the media to shake the tree for any tidbit, the veteran homicide detective says cops have zip.

A multi-coloured fabric found with the remains of a young girl in a Rosedale dumpster on Monday, May, 2, 2022. https://smartcdn.gprod.postmedia.digital/torontosun/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/NR.52847.1651754787.jpg?quality="90&strip=all&w=576 2x" height="354" loading="lazy" src="https://smartcdn.gprod.postmedia.digital/torontosun/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/NR.52847.1651754787.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&w=288" width="800"/>
A multi-coloured fabric found with the remains of a young girl in a Rosedale dumpster on Monday, May, 2, 2022.Photo by Handout /Toronto Police

A blanket found with the remains of a young girl in a Rosedale dumpster on Monday, May, 2, 2022. https://smartcdn.gprod.postmedia.digital/torontosun/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/NR.52847.1651754804.jpg?quality="90&strip=all&w=576 2x" height="483" loading="lazy" src="https://smartcdn.gprod.postmedia.digital/torontosun/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/NR.52847.1651754804.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&w=288" width="800"/>
A blanket found with the remains of a young girl in a Rosedale dumpster on Monday, May, 2, 2022.

“There’s just nothing,” Smith told the Toronto Sun. “We’ve sent DNA to a lab in the U.S. and we should hear something in a couple of weeks and that should help.

“Hopefully, that will lead to her identification and her family, then we can get some answers,” Smith said.

He added: “We’ve gone over every tip, everything, just everything and we just really don’t know at this time. But we will figure this out.”

In June, police released a composite of what the child may have looked like in life, calling it a “very good composite” and were flooded with tips. Unfortunately, none of them panned out, Smith said.

Flowers were left at the scene where the remains of a young girl were found in a dumpster on Dale Ave. in Toronto on Thursday, May 5, 2022. https://smartcdn.gprod.postmedia.digital/torontosun/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/rosedale-flowers.jpg?quality="90&strip=all&w=576 2x" height="683" loading="lazy" src="https://smartcdn.gprod.postmedia.digital/torontosun/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/rosedale-flowers.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&w=288" width="1024"/>
Flowers were left at the scene where the remains of a young girl were found in a dumpster on Dale Ave. in Toronto on Thursday, May 5, 2022.Photo by Veronica Henri /Toronto Sun/Postmedia Network

A vehicle that had been linked to the crime also turned out to be a dead end.

The little girl stood about 3-foot-6 and was thin with black, curly hair sectioned into four short ponytails. Two of them had been braided and secured with black and blue elastic bands. She had all her teeth.

So far, Rosedale Jane Doe’s cause of death is undetermined because of the state of the remains and the length of time she had been deceased.

The possibilities are sadly endless. It is suspected that she may be the child of recent or illegal immigrants and as a result, has not left a footprint in the system. Her parents may not trust the police.

She could have died from natural causes, drugs, an accident or, she may have been murdered.

“Until we figure out who she is, we won’t have answers,” Smith said.

“But we will get them eventually.”

Still, with no shade to the dedicated detectives working this case, it remains disconcerting that in 2022, a child could die and then be put into a dumpster and no one knows who she is.

Or even seems to care.

Anyone with information is asked to contact police at 416-808-5300, or Crime Stoppers anonymously at 416-222-TIPS (8477), or 222tips.com( (222tips.com).

bhunter@postmedia.com

@HunterTOSun

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