A Toronto man wanted for the first-degree murder of his ex-wife, 28-year-old Heeral Patel, has been found dead, Peel Police say.

A warrant for the arrest of Rakeshbhai Patel, 36, was issued on Jan. 16, three days after Heeral Patel’s body was found in a wooded area near Nexus Avenue and Fogal Road in Brampton.

Rakeshbhai Patel’s body was found in Toronto Friday, Peel police said in a Monday news release, adding that death is “not being pursued as a criminal investigation.”

Toronto police had set up a command post to search for Heeral Patel after she was reported missing last week. She was last seen in the Islington Avenue and Steeles Avenue West area on Jan. 11 at around 11 p.m.

Last week, Global News reported that Patel left her husband last year and was in the process of divorcing him.

According to the Times of India, got the couple got married in Gujarat, India in 2013.

“We are heartbroken by the tragic loss of a young team member who was committed to her profession,” said the Board of Directors of the care home where Patel had worked for a year. “Our thoughts and deepest sympathies go out to Heeral Patel’s family and friends, including the many colleagues she worked with at Villa Leonardo Gambin.”

Peel Police said Monday that the investigation into Heeral Patel’s death remains ongoing.

The time during and after the end of a relationship is an especially high-risk time for women, particularly in cases involving a history of abuse or prior threats of violence.

An actual or pending separation was involved in 67 per cent of 311 domestic homicide cases examined by Ontario’s Domestic Violence Death Review Committee between 2003 and 2017.

About half the homicides in Peel Region last year were allegedly committed by a former or current intimate partner, or by a family member.

According to the Canadian Femicide Observatory, a current or former intimate partner was the alleged perpetrator in more than half the cases of women killed across the country last year.

In the GTA, 2019 saw at least 16 homicides in which a current or former intimate partner was charged or died by suicide soon after the incident — two more than 2018, according to a Star analysis.

Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading...

Fourteen of the victims were women, one was a man and one was a child; the alleged killer died by suicide in six cases.

If you or someone you know need help, you can call the Assaulted Women’s Helpline at 1-866-863-0511 (Toll Free), 1-866-863-7868 (TTY) or 416-863-0511 (Toronto).