More suspects sought as Toronto police make arrest in 2006 homicide

Investigators utilized genetic genealogy to generate leads into the Sept. 17, 2006, homicide of Patrick Santos, Det. Sgt. Stephen Smith told reporters Thursday.

Toronto police have made an arrest in a nearly two-decade-old homicide, and believe more suspects are outstanding.

Investigators utilized genetic genealogy to generate leads into the Sept. 17, 2006, homicide of Patrick Santos, Det. Sgt. Stephen Smith told reporters Thursday.

Santos, 21, was found dead in the backyard of his father’s home on Bridlington Street in Scarborough. He was bound at the wrists and ankles, beaten and suffocated.

Santos was at a downtown nightclub with friends the night before and the last communication he had before his death was with his girlfriend at 4:30 a.m.

Smith told reporters DNA collected at the scene never led to match in the national DNA databank. In 2020, investigators submitted the DNA profile of a suspected offender for analysis. While it did not lead to a suspect, the information from the process helped officers identify a person of interest last year.

“Subsequent DNA analysis confirmed a match to evidence recovered from the homicide scene in 2006,” he said.

Pierre O’Connor, 43, of Hamilton, was arrested Wednesday and charged with first-degree murder. He was scheduled to appear in court Thursday.

“At this time, we are still trying to determine the events that led to this murder and the relationship between the accused and the victim,” Smith said, adding investigators believe there was a “dispute” involving Santos and another group.

reported on the 10th anniversary of the killing that after his death, police discovered Santos was involved in criminal activity involving debit card and credit card skimming. His family didn’t know about his alleged criminal life.

Multiple people were involved in the homicide, Smith said.

“We believe that there was possibly more than one person there in order to take physical control of him and not let him alert anybody else that he was being abducted,” he said, adding police believe the intent was to always kill Santos.

“They zip tied his hands and his feet, and then they taped his entire head with duct tape. I’m leaning towards the fact that they probably intended to kill him. If they didn’t, they should understand that taping someone’s entire head would probably kill them when they can’t breathe.”

Anyone with information is asked to contact police.