The police said that human remains found in a garbage container outside a vacant house in Toronto earlier this week have been confirmed to belong to a young girl no older than four years.

The remains were found in a garbage container outside a Rosedal house on Dale Street near Castle Frank Road late Monday afternoon.

Police say that the autopsy now confirms the remains likely belong to a girl between 4 and 7 years old. Investigators believe the remains were left in the garbage sometime between 12 noon on Thursday and 4:45 pm on Monday.

However, the police say the girl may have died as early as last summer, or possibly before that. "We have the best investigators in the Toronto Police Service working on this case with all they have, and so we will identify this little girl and do all the work we can for her," Hank Idsinga said to reporters during a Thursday morning press conference.

The police have not officially classified the girl's death as a homicide at this stage, but Idsinga said that investigators from the homicide unit are seriously involved in the investigation.

He added that members of the Toronto police forensic video analysis unit are examining footage taken from a number of street cameras, although he acknowledged that the police have not found any video directly showing the garbage container where the little girl was found.

"There will be monitoring of cars passing nearby and looking at people passing by it. Also, the police were unable to determine the cause of death through the autopsy.

Idsinga said the remains will undergo additional tests by the Ontario Forensic Service, which can more accurately determine the timeline of the girl's death."

The girl is described as Black or of African descent, slim in build with curly black hair, two of which were braided and tied with black and blue rubber bands. Her remains were wrapped in a blanket inside a plastic bag.

The police issued a picture of that blanket in the hope of triggering someone's memory. He told reporters, "Our priority now is to find out who this little girl is."

Mayor John Tory also commented on the girl's death during a press conference later Thursday morning, describing it as an "indescribable tragedy."

"I have grandchildren in this age group. My heart broke when I read this and spoke with the police. All I can say is that my heart goes out to this child." "She is a little girl who shouldn't have ended up dying in such a horrible way."