Toronto police have upgraded the charge against a man accused of killing 22-year-old Tess Richey from second-degree murder to first-degree murder — a welcomed upgrade, according to Richey’s sister, but one that still comes with pain.

“It’s a cold comfort,” Varina Richey wrote in a message to the Star on Wednesday. “I’m obviously happy with the upgrade.” But, she added, “it doesn’t really change the outcome of Tess’ and my destroyed lives.”

Richey’s body was discovered by her own mother on Nov. 29, in an alleyway outside an under-construction building in Toronto’s Gay Village. She was reported missing four days earlier, last seen in the Church and Wellesley St. area.

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Richey was killed by neck compression, according to a post-mortem examination. Kalen Schlatter, 21, was arrested Feb. 4 and originally charged with second-degree murder. Police, at the time, believed that the pair hadn’t known each other before that night, and said the killing could fairly be called a “crime of opportunity.”

The new charge, of first-degree murder, means police believe the killing was both planned and deliberate. “A murder is planned if it was conceived of and thought out before it was carried out. A murder is deliberate if the acts involved were intended and purposeful,” criminal lawyer Daniel Brown explained to the Star.

Brown has no involvement in this case.

“The plan to kill need not be elaborate or complicated and the deliberation need not be lengthy. All that matters is that some form of planning to kill the person occurred at some point and that the accused person deliberately carried out the plan successfully,” he said.

In some rare cases, he added, a murder that wasn’t planned or deliberate could be elevated from second-degree to first-degree murder if it happens while the accused committed “one of a few enumerated crimes,” including hijacking, sexual assault or forcible confinement.

Either police had evidence that now suggested the murder was planned and deliberate, or that one of the other specific crimes was occurring at the same time. Det. Ted Lioumanis said he couldn’t comment on which of those situations happened in Schlatter’s case.

Toronto police have arrested a man in the death of 22-year old Tess Richey. Kalen Schlatter has been charged with second-degree murder. He was arrested on Feb. 4.

The escalated charge comes as a result of a combination of evidence, including new witness statements, an ongoing review of the video footage from the area that night, and results from the centre of forensic sciences. “I can’t explain to you what took us to the first (degree charge),” Lioumanis said in an interview with the Star Wednesday. “But I’m confident that the evidence I have now has taken us to that, and we’ll put it before the courts.”

“It’s not a one-time, one piece of evidence, that put us over the edge.”

Police have previously said the pair were together “for some time” before Tess was killed, but have not elaborated on what they believe happened. The information is considered evidence.

Schlatter was still somewhat of a mystery to officers at the time of his last court appearance. He had been on their radar since early in the investigation, but in a press conference, Det. Sgt. Graham Gibson said there was “quite a bit of work” needed to bring them to the point where an arrest could be made.

Police had received very little information about the 21-year-old since his arrest, Lioumanis told the Star at College Park court on Feb. 22, and Schlatter’s family had not been involved in the case at that point – though police knew he lived with them in Toronto prior to his arrest, and worked with his father.

“We need to find out more about who he really is,” Lioumanis said at the time. “We’re still working on that. It’s still early.” He said he was optimistic that “people will step forward” as the case progresses.

On Wednesday, he told the Star that new witnesses and community members had come forward since then. “We’ve interviewed people who have provided some background on Mr. Schlatter,” he said, adding that they’d come to police themselves. There are more witness statements for the case scheduled for the next couple days.

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“After speaking to those people, it’ll strengthen our case, hopefully, even more.”

Schlatter’s family continues to be uncooperative with police, he said. “I asked them if they were willing to provide a statement, they refused, and I haven’t heard from them since,” Lioumanis told the Star. He said that police advised the Richey family of the update.

“They’re very happy in regards to that aspect of it,” Lioumanis said. “But again, it’s very hard for them to deal with. How do you try to wrap your head and understand what happened to Tess?”

Schlatter will appear in court Thursday morning.