Hamilton police have charged the live-in partner of Shalini Singh with second-degree murder after her partial remains were found in a landfill last month.
Jeffery Smith, 42, was arrested in a Burlington, Ont., parking lot last week near his family’s home, Det. Sgt. Daryl Reid told reporters. He was also charged with indignity to human remains, related to her body being disposed of through an apartment building garbage system, Reid said.
His arrest came soon after Singh’s remains were positively identified through DNA testing.
On Tuesday December 10th, 2024, family members of Shalini SINGH reported her missing to the Hamilton Police Service. The last confirmed interaction family and friends had with Shalini was at 7:10 PM on December 4th.
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. 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.
On Monday February 24th, the Hamilton Police Service began a search at this landfill site. During the search of this target area, partial human remains were located on Wednesday May 21st. On Friday June 20th, DNA testing at the Centre of Forensic Sciences confirmed that the remains recovered by police was in fact Shalini Singh.
Based on these DNA results and the evidence located during this investigation, 42-year-old Jeffery Smith of Burlington was arrested without incident on June 20th. Jeffery Smith was the common-law partner of Shalini Singh at the time of her death, and he has now been charged with Second Degree Murder and Indignity to Human Remains. Jeffery had his first appearance in court on Saturday June 21st.
At this time, the Singh family has requested privacy while they deal with this difficult news.
If you have any information that you believe could assist police with this investigation, you are asked to contact Detective Adam Baglieri by calling 905-546-3859. To provide information anonymously call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477 or submit your anonymous tips online at http://www.crimestoppershamilton.com
