By all accounts, 87-year-old Kathleen Pollock loved her old home at 13 Pine Ridge Dr. in Scarborough, overlooking Lake Ontario.

It was at the property known as the Pollock Estate where she lived for a half century, where she raised her family before the children grew up and she and her husband went to nursing homes. And it was there where she was found dead around 4:30 a.m. Friday, hours after taking a cab from her retirement home to pay one last visit to the abandoned and once grand mansion.

Greg Pollock, Kathleen’s son, said he thinks his mother was going for one last visit to the home she loved.

“There was no indication of trauma, she seemed to just lay down peacefully by the front door and pass away,” he said, his voice wavering. “I think this was her last wish.”

Pollock said his mother was independent and would often do errands on her own, but she had never gone missing.

“She doesn’t venture far. That was quite a journey. It was like almost a mission,” Pollock said. “She hadn’t visited the house in a while. Destiny was calling her and she was going home.”

Neighbour Risalina Rousell, who lives next door to the Pollock Estate, saw her climb out of a cab alone on Thursday and take uncertain steps across the snow towards the now-empty mansion, which had been sold to developers for more than $2 million in 2011. The property is slated to be subdivided into three lots for grand homes on one-acre lots.

“She passed by,” Rousell said. “The gate was closed. I said, ‘She shouldn’t be going there by herself.’ She could hardly walk. She was limping. I was monitoring her.”

Plumber Loris Vits, who was working at Rousell’s home, went out to try to help the elderly woman as she walked across the snow.

Pollock, whose family owned Pollock’s Shoes retail chain in Ontario, was a little bent over and her steps were uncertain but she was insistent that she walk across the snow to the boarded-up mansion.

She was wearing a winter coat and carrying a plastic bag and was clearly determined to get to the house under the grand pines when Vits approached her.

“She was well dressed,” Vits said. “She had makeup on. You could tell she was a woman of stature.”

Pollock made it immediately clear to Vits that she didn’t want help as she walked towards her old home.

“She was fine,” Vits said. “She was lucid.”

“She said no. She just said she was going next door. That was her home for 50 years.”

Rousell watched her slow determined walk until she reached the front door, and assumed things were all right.

Pollock’s body was found crumpled on the doorstep of her empty former family home around 4:30 a.m.

Greg Pollock insisted that he doesn’t blame anyone for his mother’s death.

“No, the retirement home has been great. They have a check in at 11 o’ clock and if your tag isn’t on your door, they knock on the door and enter it,” Pollock said.

When Kathleen Pollock’s door had no tag at 11 p.m. Thursday, the Donway Place retirement home searched the premises. When she was nowhere to be found, they called police.

“She was in the early stages of Alzheimer’s and had other medical problems, some heart disease problems and high blood pressure,” Toronto police Staff Sgt. Brian Gottschalk said.

After a tip from Pollock’s family, a police cruiser was sent to the mansion on Pine Ridge Dr. The police officer found Pollock collapsed and without a heartbeat.

Emergency Medical Services said frigid -10 C temperature overnight may have been a factor in the woman’s death.

Police had issued a missing person alert on Friday just after midnight, asking the public to call authorities if they spotted the slow-walking woman with curly red hair and a green winter coat.

Pollock’s death isn’t being treated as suspicious, Gottschalk said.

“We are deeply saddened by one of the deaths of our residents, and we do extend our condolences to the family,” said Lynn Jennings, executive director of Donway Place retirement home, near Don Mills Rd. and Lawrence Ave.

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

Jennings, said she was unable to disclose any further information about Pollock’s stay at the Don Mills Seniors’ apartments connected to the retirement home because it is a “private matter.”

The Pollock family mansion was built in the 1930s, and Kathleen and Robert Pollock acquired the property in 1962. The family sold the estate in 2011.

Now, the mansion’s new owners plan to tear down the building.

“The two gentlemen who purchased (the property) want to subdivide it into three to build homes for themselves,” said Rick Schofield, chair of the Scarborough Preservation Committee. “They paid $2 million for it, they don’t want restrictions.”

To protect the property, the preservation committee lobbied Scarborough city council to grant the mansion heritage status, which would protect it from unwarranted demolition.

But council rejected the proposal after a Pollock family member gave the green light for the destruction, agreeing with the new owners that the house was beyond repair.

“I guess he just doesn’t care about (the estate),” Schofield said.

Greg Pollock recalled his childhood at the mansion, a place that he remembers with wonder.

“We saw every tree grow from a sapling there. There are deer there, fox there, rabbit, wild turkey, for a little while,” Pollock said, his voice trailing off. “Everything you can imagine.”

Rousell’s husband Doug, 69, said he can totally understand why Kathleen Pollock felt the need to go back to the wooded home one last time.

The Rousells moved onto the property in 2011 and he said he has found the view of the trees and water and wildlife comforting, especially after he had a leg amputated in December.

“I found a beauty that grabs a hold of me here,” Doug Rousell said. “Right in the city of Toronto. Her feelings for her place echoes my feelings for my place.”

Pollock’s husband has been in a nursing home for the past few years after slipping on his property, neighbours said.

Doug Rousell said he fell in love with the area even before he saw deer wandering through his one-acre property.

“All the wild animals aren't (really) wild,” he said. “The animals have been taken care of over the years. They have no fear of humans. This is it. I’m not leaving... Is this heaven or is it not?”