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When he failed to return Riya home at the scheduled time, Marttini said the mother became concerned. That anxiety morphed into something more serious after Rajkumar, an ex-boyfriend, allegedly indicated to the girl’s mother that he planned to harm both himself and their child, Marttini said.

“She came in already fully concerned saying, ’this is what he’s saying to me, I’m concerned for the well-being of my daughter, I need some help,”’ she said.

Marttini said police began investigating the situation right away, but did not immediately have grounds to enter Rajkumar’s home, where Riya’s body was found roughly five hours after she was reported missing.

“We need extenuating circumstances to force entry into somebody’s residence,” Marttini said. “To do a door-knock? No problem. But if nobody answers, that’s sort of as far as we go … As the investigation unfolded, they did receive information that they did believe she was in the residence. As soon as they had that information, they proceeded.”

Shortly before entering the home, however, police had issued an Amber Alert in Riya’s disappearance. The alert, released just after 11:30 p.m., was issued via the national Public Alerting System on cellphones across the province.

No family should ever go through this

That bulletin, police said, directly led to Rajkumar’s arrest.

Ontario Provincial Police Staff Sgt. Carolle Dionne said a motorist driving on Highway 11 in Oro-Medonte, Ont., shortly before midnight noticed Rajkumar’s vehicle, which had been described in the Amber Alert.