22 months after abduction, Elnaz Hajtamiri’s boyfriend charged with murder: OPP

Ontario Provincial Police say the ex-boyfriend of a woman abducted from a Wasaga Beach home has been charged with her murder, almost two years after her disappearance.

It’s the first murder charge OPP have announced in Elnaz Hajtamiri’s case.

OPP say Mohamad Lilo, who had already been arrested and charged in both Hajtamiri’s “invasion-style” abduction and her alleged assault weeks earlier, is now facing a first-degree murder charge.

In an email, spokesperson Bill Dickson says the OPP’s criminal investigations branch continues to work to identify Hajtamiri’s whereabouts.

Police have said that in January 2022 three suspects in balaclavas and wearing fake police vests abducted Hajtamiri from a relative’s home in Wasaga Beach, where her family said she was hiding out after alleged threats from her ex-boyfriend escalated.

Lilo had previously been charged with attempted murder and attempted kidnapping after police alleged two men violently attacked Hajtamiri with a frying pan and tried to abduct her in an underground parking lot in Richmond Hill weeks before she was abducted.

He was also previously arrested and charged with criminal harassment following their breakup.

A Mississauga man, Sukhpreet Singh, 23, of Mississauga was wanted in the frying pan attack.

And since Hajtamiri’s abduction, police have made multiple arrests including 30-year-old Krystal P. Lawrence of Brampton who was charged with kidnapping, attempted murder charges for Riyasat Singh from Mississauga and Harshdeep Binner from Brampton.

Police are offering a $100,000 reward to anyone with information that will lead to the location of Hajtamiri.

Anyone with any information is asked to call the OPP non-emergency line at 1-888-310-1122. If you wish to remain anonymous, you may call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477 (TIPS) or submit tips online.

Members of the public are strongly urged to help share previously released social media information and photos of Elnaz Hajtamiri using the hashtag #BringElnazHome.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 9, 2023. 

The Canadian Press