An Ontario police chief says the Toronto woman arrested by his force and accused of three murders in three days can be considered “a serial killer” after seemingly unrelated deaths were reported in Toronto, Niagara Falls and Hamilton.
On Friday, three Ontario police forces announced they had charged a 30-year-old Toronto woman with murder after two men and a woman were found dead over three days in different cities.
Police officers in the three southern Ontario cities had all been investigating homicides over the past three days, leading them to conclude the same Toronto woman may be behind the three killings.
“I think by definition she is a serial killer — two or more offences,” Niagara Regional Police Chief Bill Fordy told reporters on Friday.
The woman faces two first-degree murder charges and one count of second-degree murder.
Niagara and Hamilton police laid first-degree murder charges connected to killings they believe were random, while Toronto police homicide detectives are charging the same woman with the second-degree murder of someone they believe she knew.
Three deaths reported in three days
The first incident occurred in Toronto, near Keele and Dundas streets, just after 2 p.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 1. Police said they found a still-unidentified woman dead in a home with signs of trauma on her body.
The next day, before 3 p.m., police say they were called to John Allan Park in Niagara Falls after reports of a disturbance. Officers found a man suffering critical injuries who, despite the attempts of first responders, died at the scene.
And then, on Thursday, Oct. 3, Hamilton police rushed to a parking lot off MacNab Street North, where they found an unresponsive male victim who had been stabbed. Police said he was taken to hospital, where he died.
Investigators with Toronto police said the detectives’ working understanding was that the Toronto victim was known to the woman, while the two other deaths were believed to be “randomly targeted.”
Global News has learned the accused was roommates with the Toronto woman who was killed.
Toronto police said detectives involved were able to “link the homicide” in Hamilton with the death in Niagara Falls.
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“An additional link was made to the active homicide investigation from October 1 in Toronto,” the force said.
The accused was identified as Sabrina Kauldhar, a 30-year-old woman from Toronto. She faces a second-degree murder charge in Toronto and a first-degree murder charge each from Niagara Regional Police and Hamilton police.
She is in the custody of Niagara Regional Police and was arrested in Burlington, Ont.
Two attacks believed to be random
Police said that, while the woman who died in Toronto may have been known to Kauldhar, they were working on the understanding the other two attacks were random.
The victim of the Niagara Falls was identified as 47-year-old Lance Cunningham, while the Hamilton stabbing victim was named as 77-year-old Mario Bilich.
“Mario and Lance Cunningham were both going about their business and we believe that they were random attacks,” Chief Fordy said.
“We are not aware of any connection between the victims and we are not aware of a motive at this time.”
Lance Cunningham.
NRP / Handout
Police highlighted it was early in the investigation but said they had not found a motive behind the two attacks, leaving them to be currently considered random.
“This remains an ongoing investigation by homicide detectives; as they continue to determine the timeline of events,” Toronto police said.
Friends and family confirmed that 77-year-old Bilich from Hamilton was a retired teacher.
Calogero Milazzo, a friend of Bilich’s, said he was shocked.
“He was an ex-high school teacher, he knew many languages, he was brilliant,” he told Global News. “A friendly guy, happy-go-lucky, five kids, everything.”
In a post on Facebook, Bilich’s daughter said her father had died in a “senseless stabbing” in the city.
“Please pray for us, his children, in-laws, grandchildren, sisters-in-law, nieces and nephews here in Canada as well as his many cugini e zii in Italy and Croatia and France,” she wrote in her post.
Mario Bilich.
HP / Handout
Asked if he feared the deaths could have continued if Kauldhar had not been arrested, Chief Fordy said it was hard to guess.
“It’s always difficult to speculate on what somebody would do,” he said.
“What I can say is I am very pleased that we were able to bring this to closure in a quick manner. We have three families who have lost their loved ones, and I think, if someone has committed three offences in a time frame like that, there is a risk of them committing further offences.”
Chief Fordy said investigators were able to use video footage to identify Kauldhar before she was eventually arrested just before 6 p.m. on Thursday.
He said Kauldhar arrived at a location investigators were securing in Burlington on Thursday, where she was taken into custody. The scene where she was arrested, Fordy said, was a hotel but he would not comment if she was staying there.
Officers said they are particularly concerned with anyone who may have seen Kauldhar between Oct. 1 and her arrest just before 6 p.m. on Oct. 3, asking anyone with information to come forward.
“Our investigators are in the throes of trying to better understand the timeline,” Fordy said.
Police are also looking to identify a woman seen at a Giant Tiger location in Burlington buying clothes Kauldhar apparently had when she was arrested.
Kauldhar appeared in court on Friday.
— with files from Global News’ Catherine McDonald
Police are attempting to identify a female who was observed on CCTV footage on October 1 at the Giant Tiger located at 2025 Guelph Line in Burlington buying clothing.
NRP / Handout
