Toronto police delays in Indigenous woman's suspicious death echo past failings, cold-case researcher says

Globe and Mail

14-05-2025

The suspicious death of Jennifer Johnson, whose body was found in a Toronto ravine in 2023, sparked a 'bleak déjà vu' for one cold-case researcher, who says it reflects broader institutional failures to take the disappearances and deaths of Indigenous women and those from other marginalized communities more seriously.
Ms. Johnson's death was the subject of a recent Globe and Mail investigation that showed police failed to take basic steps, such as examining her cellphone, for more than a year after her body was found. Her friends grew so concerned over what they saw as a lack of police effort that they began an investigation of their own.
She was found in August, 2023, after she'd been reported missing three weeks earlier. She was of Métis descent on her grandmother's side, and police described her as a 'marginalized Indigenous woman.'
After a Toronto woman was found dead in a ravine, police delays prompted her friends to start their own investigation
The police investigation is ongoing, and a cause of death has not been determined, owing in part to the decomposed state of the body. The case was never turned over to the homicide unit.
'Up close, Jennifer's story is singular and important in its own right. But when you zoom out, it becomes part of a larger national narrative of Indigenous women and girls being forsaken,' said Sasha Reid, a developmental psychologist and student-at-law who has spent the past decade compiling a missing and murdered database that has nearly 13,000 entries, the largest of its kind in Canada.
Ms. Johnson's case is not the only one raising concern. In British Columbia, a march was recently held to protest what victims' families say are improper police investigations into the deaths of three Indigenous girls and women. In Manitoba, a landfill search – started after years of pressure from families – has recovered the remains of two Indigenous women murdered by a convicted serial killer. Groups are calling for a public inquiry into how the Winnipeg Police Service managed the investigations.
In this context, 'Jennifer's story is not an outlier but part of a broader failure: a pattern of under-investigation, a lack of available institutional care and the erasure of Indigenous women's dignity,' Dr. Reid said.
She was troubled by the lag in searching Ms. Johnson's cellphone and by the fact the case was not turned over to the homicide unit, which has expert investigators. Such 'classifications can unconsciously downshift investigative urgency, and this is something we see across Canada, especially in cases involving Indigenous women and girls.'
Ms. Johnson had been a successful wardrobe stylist and costume designer before spiralling into addiction in recent years and spending time drinking with a circle of acquaintances in a midtown Toronto park. Court records show at least two men were accused of assaulting her in the past.
She was found in the nearby Nordheimer Ravine, near a busy public walking trail. No public announcement of her death was made (police say they don't typically release names when a case has not been deemed a homicide). Police also never appealed to the public for information. Friends wonder if such an appeal could have yielded answers about her death.
The lag in searching her cellphone – a key piece of evidence – wasn't the only delay in an investigation friends say lacked urgency. Police also waited more than a year to compel a shelter to provide records about a man connected to her.
Dr. Reid is not the only one with concerns about the case.
'The thing that stands out to me is the burden should not be put on friends and family to solve a suspicious death like this,' said Stephanie Smyth, the MPP for Toronto-St. Paul's, the riding in which Ms. Johnson lived and was found dead.
She said she wonders whether more robust community outreach at the time could have yielded clues into how she died – and whether Ms. Johnson's socioeconomic status played a role in the apparent lack of priority in the police investigation.
'Would police have acted faster or been more thorough if she was someone else? If maybe she lived in one of those houses that backed onto the ravine or if she looked differently? That's the question that just comes to mind automatically.'
Toronto police have faced criticism in the past over their handling of cases of persons from marginalized communities. Perceptions of delayed police action were detailed in a 2021 report by Gloria Epstein, a retired judge. Justice Epstein's review examined the cases of eight men connected with Toronto's Gay Village who went missing over a seven-year period, scrutinizing why it took so long for Toronto police to link the men's disappearances to serial killer Bruce McArthur.
In her report, Justice Epstein concluded that the police had applied inconsistent approaches to missing persons cases and that the cases she was reviewing – which involved marginalized and vulnerable victims – were often given less attention than they deserved.
The Toronto Police Service has promised to implement all 151 recommendations of the review. Four years later, they say 89 have been implemented, 60 are 'in progress' and two not yet started.
The service has made strides in recent years but still needs to boost transparency and better engage with the public, said Haran Vijayanathan, community co-chair of the Missing and Missed Implementation Team, which is working with the police to implement the recommendations. The service 'can certainly improve their community relations and community information,' he said.
In an e-mailed statement to The Globe, Toronto police spokesperson Stephanie Sayer said this work remains a priority, 'and we will continue to listen and learn from the community as we move forward.'
She said the Jennifer Johnson investigation remains active and ongoing. 'Investigators remain committed to conducting a thorough and professional investigation.'
The Globe reached out to several members of the Toronto Police Service Board, including chair Shelley Carroll, for comment. The TPSB declined interviews with the chair and vice-chair, 'given the operational nature of this issue.' The TPSB is the civilian body that oversees the Toronto police, which has an annual budget of more than $1-billion.
Dr. Reid, based in Calgary, stressed the importance of accountability in policing and investigations. She urged authorities to implement the 2019 calls to justice from the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls. Until they do, she said, 'we will keep seeing cases like Jennifer's.'