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The opportunity presented itself

Richey, 22, went missing on Nov. 25 after spending a night in the Village. In Monday’s press conference Gibson wouldn’t offer a theory as to how Richey met Schlatter that night, but police had previously contended that Richey met her killer after she and a high school friend left the Crews & Tangos bar at 1:45 a.m. The friends stopped at a hot dog cart on Church Street and it was there, police said, that they met the man they have identified as Schlatter, who joined the pair as they walked northwest toward Dundonald Street.

The group stopped to speak with a man and woman. Richey’s high school friend left the group and the couple followed suit, leaving Richey alone with the man she met at the hot dog stand. Together, they walked north and CCTV cameras showed them entering an alley near Church and Wellesley streets. Richey was last seen alive at 3 a.m., Gibson said. The footage, police said, then showed the man they have identified as Schlatter leaving the alleyway alone.

“The opportunity presented itself,” Gibson said.

After Richey’s family reported her missing later that day, police began a search of the Village. Christine Hermeston, Richey’s mother, found her daughter’s body in an exterior stairwell.

At first police did not consider the death suspicious. However, after conducting a post-mortem investigation, they determined the cause of Richey’s death was neck compression.

In a Facebook post, Richey’s sister Varina wrote that police told the family Sunday night about Schlatter’s arrest. The Richey family is happy with the investigation, Varina said, as police kept them up to date on how they were “on to the suspect.”

“This is not a celebration for us but it is a victory of sorts and we would now like to finally focus our energy and attention on honouring and remembering the best and zaniest little sister any of us Richey girls ever could have asked for,” Varina wrote.

Rachel Richey, another of Richey’s sisters, tweeted that the charge against Schlatter left her “confused as ever.”

“My heart is broken but at least we have a few answers to the multitude of questions we have,” she wrote.

Schlatter appeared in court Monday and was remanded in police custody.

• Email: vferreira@postmedia.com | Twitter: VicF77