Jul. 17, 2006. 06:31 AM
Kori Willis took a long look at the photograph and placed a palm to his forehead.
"I can't believe it's her," he said.
The woman in the photograph was 20-year-old Yasmin Ashareh, whose body was found in a bag last Friday at a housing complex across the street from the Food Basics grocery store on Martin Grove Rd. where she worked.
Willis, the store's assistant manager, was still visibly stunned moments after seeing Ashareh's picture. He said
Ashareh had only worked at the store a few weeks, but was well liked by her co-workers. He recalls chatting with her during smoke breaks.
"She was very nice, very outspoken," he said. "She always came in and did her job."
Toronto police said Ashareh died from multiple stab wounds to the neck. Her body was then thrown in a bag and left for days in an alley at the Martin Grove Estates, a housing project on John Garland Blvd., until trash collectors found it Friday.
Homicide Det. Wayne Banks said the trash collectors moved the bag a short distance before noticing its weight and smell. They then called police to the housing complex.
At a news conference held yesterday at police headquarters on College St., Banks discounted earlier reports the body was dismembered. He said all the remains were intact and there were no missing limbs.
Banks said Ashareh had not been stabbed to death in the alley where her body was found, although the body had been there for "several" days. He said it wasn't unusual that the garbage, which is supposed to be picked up Tuesdays and Fridays, wasn't collected last Tuesday.
Those who knew Ashareh were still trying yesterday to make sense of her slaying.
At a nearby housing co-op down the street, a man, who declined to give his name, said he spoke occasionally with Ashareh while he shopped.
"Why would anyone want to kill her?" said the man. "Who would do something like that?"
Banks did reveal that Ashareh lived alone in a rented room near the complex where her body was found. He said police are trying to determine her whereabouts in the time leading to her murder, adding Ashareh had not been reported missing. She had apparently lived in the area for "awhile," Banks said.
He said Ashareh was born in Canada, but her family is from Somalia. The detective said she has a brother, two sisters and a single mother.
Banks said family, who live in Peel Region, is "devastated" by Ashareh's death. Police are checking dental records to confirm Ashareh's identity because family members "still don't want to come to grips that this is their daughter," Banks said.
Police are investigating whether Ashareh was in a relationship. Banks said yesterday she had previously been in a relationship and police have already questioned that person.
"We're investigating every theory and we won't leave any stone unturned until we find the killer of this young lady," he said.