Common-law husband arrested in grisly murder of Shalini Singh in Hamilton

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Hamilton homicide detectives were laser-focused on Shalini Singh’s common-law husband out of the starting gate.

The 40-year-old Singh vanished without a trace from her apartment last December.

On Monday, cops announced that Shalini’s partner of “five to seven years,” Jeffrey Smith, had been charged with second-degree murder. Investigators arrested him without incident on Friday in a Burlington parking lot.

Almost from the beginning, detectives believed that Singh hadn’t simply walked away from her life, and had likely been murdered.

Det.-Sgt. Daryl Reid told reporters Monday that Smith had refused to cooperate with cops from the beginning.

Reid confirmed that remains recovered from the Glanbrook landfill site in May had been positively identified as Singh’s by the Centre for Forensic Science on Friday. Cops have not revealed the nature of the remains.

Investigators believed that Singh had been murdered in her apartment on the evening of Dec. 4 or early morning of Dec. 5. Using GPS, they determined that the refuse collected from her building was in a specific area of the landfill.

They began scouring the area in February in what was described as hazardous, often nasty work. DNA confirmed the horrific news that the remains were Singh’s.

She was reported missing on Dec. 10, 2024. The last confirmed interaction family and friends had with Shalini was at 7:10 p.m. on Dec. 4.

“During this investigation, police gathered information that was consistent with Shalini being the victim of foul play and removed from the building by way of the garbage disposal system,” a release said.

“With the assistance of GPS data, an area at the Glanbrook Landfill Site was identified where waste from Shalini’s building had been taken during the period of time of her disappearance.”

In addition to second-degree murder, Smith has also been charged with indignity to human remains. He made a court appearance on Saturday.

Cops are continuing to scour the landfill, but the scorching weather has made the search difficult. Reid said they hope to complete searching the target area by June 27.

Earlier in the investigation, Reid had told reporters that Singh’s common-law partner was neither a suspect nor a person of interest. But that was not the case.

“All I can say is we’re just looking into his possible involvement,” Reid said in February.

Her mother, Anita, recalled to CBC News in February about the last time she spoke with her daughter.

“She just kept saying, ‘I love you, mom, I love you mom, I love you, mom.’ And I said, ‘What’s the matter with you, Shalini? Are you all right?'” Anita told CBC News. “And she hung up all of a sudden.”

The worried mom said she and Shalini’s father, who live in Burlington, desperately tried to contact their daughter. They called their daughter’s and her boyfriend’s phones countless times. Initially, her boyfriend was also missing.

Reid noted on Monday that the couple did not have any prior interactions with police. Detectives were not looking for any other suspects.

The detective said that investigators tracked Smith for a week in December after Singh had been reported missing. So far, no weapon has been recovered.

“This news is still a shock to the family to get this confirmation,” Reid told reporters.

bhunter@postmedia.com

@HunterTOSun