Man charged in murder of woman found dead inside Mississauga apartment
Published July 31, 2023 at 4:37 pm
A Mississauga man has been charged with second-degree murder in the slaying of a young woman found dead inside her high-rise apartment in the city’s south end.
The body of Pitch Phaunpa, 21, was discovered on July 20 inside her seventh-floor Port Credit apartment by Peel Regional Police officers conducting a wellness check.
Indications to police were that the woman was likely killed two or three days earlier inside the Helene St. N. building, just south of Port Credit GO station.
Investigators haven’t said how Phaunpa was killed.
Jordan Sanders, 29, of Mississauga, was arrested and charged with second-degree murder by police earlier today (July 31).
He remains in custody pending a bail hearing in Brampton court.
Jordan Sanders, 29. (Photo: Peel Regional Police)
Police didn’t say what, if any, prior relationship may have existed between Sanders and the victim.
Police say it’s still an active investigation and they’re asking anyone with information to call them at 905-453-2121, ext. 3205, or Peel Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477.
The murder has shaken some area residents who are still reeling from a string of violent incidents earlier this year in the south end of the city.
A number of residents say they’re unsettled by an uncharacteristic spike in gun violence and deaths in the Port Credit area so far in 2023.
Pitch Phaunpa (Photo: Canada Obituaries)
“So glad I sold my condo there (because) there is always something happening to people in that area, people getting shot and stabbed; it’s never ending,” one person wrote in response to a Facebook post in the wake of the latest murder.
“I have been going to Port Credit since I was a kid and also lived there for a few months. It’s a real mess and likely not safe at night. I saw way too much and each year it gets even worse than the one before,” another woman wrote on the post.
While a number of residents expressed concern on social media, others suggested their fears are overblown and that Port Credit is still a safe and “beautiful” part of the city and that the number of violent incidents so far in 2023 is a departure from the norm.
The grisly discovery on July 20 came about a month after an unrelated “targeted” double shooting several blocks to the southeast left a 25-year-old Toronto man dead and his 19-year-old female companion wounded by gunfire.
Shahid Todd was pronounced dead at the Oakwood Ave. S./Wanita Rd. scene on the night of June 21. His body was reportedly found in very shallow water on the Lake Ontario shoreline.
A shooting three years ago in Mississauga covered by insauga.com involved a man of the same name as the murder victim in the June 21 shooting.
In July 2020, police charged a man by the name of Shahid Todd, 22 and of Mississauga at the time, with attempted murder and numerous other charges after another man was shot in a parking lot at Mavis and Britannia Rds. in Mississauga.
The victim in that shooting survived.
Police haven’t said if the two shootings are related.
In addition to the latest violence in the Port Credit area, yet another double shooting claimed the life of one man outside the Canvas Art Bar, on Lakeshore Rd. E., in March.
Meanwhile, Phaunpa, known to family and friends as “Polly,” was described in an online obituary as a student at the Toronto Film School who enjoyed drawing, watching crime series TV shows, listening to music and playing guitar and violin.
“Polly will be forever remembered by her family as a very kind, caring, quiet, thoughtful and smart person,” the obituary reads.
The woman’s immediate family members had reportedly moved out of province late last year, at which time Phaunpa moved into the Port Credit apartment building.
