An autopsy conducted by the Office of the Chief Coroner has confirmed that the remains found in garbage bins behind a butcher shop in Riverdale are from a human female.

The human torso was discovered in an industrial garbage bag behind Charlie’s Meat and Seafood, on Broadview Ave. just north of Gerrard St. E. It was initially unclear to police whether the remains were from a human or a large mammal.

Jim Cheung, the butcher shop owner, says he was notified by one of his employees on Tuesday morning. When his staff handle the garbage bins in the morning, they are usually empty, he told the Star.

But this time, they weren’t.

“I think I found part of a person,” Cheung recalled his employee saying. “He knows how to cut meat, so as soon as he dumped the bin he realized this isn’t normal.” The employee believed he was looking at human remains because he saw a “buttocks,” Cheung added.

During the phone call, Cheung’s heart started racing, he said. “I couldn’t believe what he was telling me. When he called me, I could tell in his voice he was panicking. He wasn’t his normal, calm self. I said, ‘I’m coming right now’ and I called 911.”

The man, who has worked at Charlie’s for about 20 years, was given the day off. Police removed the yellow tape around the butcher shop after noon on Wednesday, allowing it to re-open.

The incident has shaken some of the shop’s neighbours. Justin Wilks, a 26 year old machine operator, lives with his girlfriend two doors down from the butcher shop, beside a vegetarian restaurant. He says they take out the trash in the same area as the butcher shop’s bins, where the remains were discovered. “My girlfriend says she’ll never be able to go out there,” Wilks said.

Toronto Police confirmed Wednesday afternoon that the remains were of a female. However, they wouldn’t say how old the person was or exactly how they died.

Cheryl Mahyr, a spokesperson for the Office of the Chief Coroner and the Ontario Forensic Pathology Service, said that getting further information on the remains will be difficult.

“Obviously, there is a challenge here because we only have so much of (the) remains,” she said.

Mahyr added that the remains will be examined not only for identification purposes, but for a “whole host” of information, such as how the body was dismembered and the cause of death. It’s unknown when this information will be released.

Homicide Det-Sgt. Terry Browne told reporters at the scene on Wednesday afternoon that investigators are still trying to determine the age and ethnicity of the person.

“The remains themselves, in my mind, appear to be somewhat fresh,” he said. The body was found without clothes, police said.

Earlier, they said the remains appear to be of an adult “female, light-skinned.”

Employees of the butcher shop told police that they didn’t see the bag when they arrived at work. This doesn’t mean that it wasn’t there earlier, Browne said, but he doesn’t believe the bag was placed there on Monday night.

“As soon as they saw what they saw, being in the meat business, it certainly appeared to them to be human in nature,” Browne said.

He wouldn’t say how much of the body was in the bag, but said officers will continue to search the area.

“The fact that we only have a portion suggests the remaining parts could possibly be in the vicinity,” he said.

While homicide detectives were called, there’s no conclusive proof yet that a murder has been committed, he added.

“We have the remains of an individual, so that could run the full gamut,” he told reporters. “Was it death by a criminal act? Was it a death by some other means, and now someone is trying to get rid of the remains? I’ve got to keep my mind open to everything.”

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Brown said the fact that the remains were left at the back of the meat shop may suggest a familiarity with the industry’s garbage and unloading schedules.

“That’s something we’re definitely looking into,” he said.

With files from Evelyn Kwong and Brennan Doherty