Elnaz Haytamiri’s ex-boyfriend hired a private detective to monitor her whereabouts in the days and weeks before she was forcibly abducted from Wasaga Beach, Ont., On January 12, CBC News has learned.
Montreal resident Mohammad Lilo, 34, enlisted the services of Brampton-based Investigations Plus Ltd. to detect and monitor Haytamiri, three sources with direct knowledge of the situation told CBC News.
One source said the company’s investigators conducted surveillance on January 10 and 11 in front of the home on Wasaga Beach, where Haytamiri was staying with relatives. However, the investigator was removed on the morning of January 12, the source said – the same day, three men dressed in police equipment broke into the house and kidnapped the 37-year-old Iranian immigrant.
She has not been seen or heard from since.
CBC News did not identify the sources, as they were not authorized to speak publicly about an open police investigation.
The revelations come as Ontario Police (OPP) continue to investigate the abduction of Haitamiri. No charges have been filed.
Lilo and Haytamiri were in a romantic relationship that ended in October 2021.
Nine days after the abduction of his ex-girlfriend, Lilo was charged with criminal harassment. His lawyer, Philip Grenier, declined to answer the allegations against his client contained in the story; when called on the phone, he said the matter was in court. He did not respond to a detailed list of questions sent by email.
CBC News tried to contact Lilo himself on social media and at the phone number listed in his bail documents. Lilo did not respond to the message on social media, and the man who answered the phone said he did not know him.
The private detective confirmed the observation
Gabriel Cojocaru, owner of Investigations Plus Ltd., confirmed to CBC News in a telephone interview that Lilo had hired his company sometime around December 6 or 9, asking him to find Haytamiri and then monitor her movements.
Kojokaru said Lilo provided the addresses of her apartment building in Richmond Hill and the home of Wasaga Beach on Trailwood Place.
Haytamiri went to stay with family members on Wasaga Beach because she feared for her safety after being beaten by two men with a frying pan in the underground garage of her apartment on December 20th. The attack left her with a head wound that required about 40 stitches, her cousin told CBC News.
Haytamiri received a head wound that required 35 to 40 stitches after being beaten with a frying pan in the underground garage of his apartment on December 20th. (Sent by the Haytamiri family)
Sources told CBC News that Lilo had been to Haytamiri’s residence in Richmond Hill many times and had been acquainted with the Wasaga Beach home, having stayed there at least one night when the couple met.
Kojokaru said he watched “both in the Richmond Hill apartment and at the Wasaga Beach home” a few days before she was abducted.
At around 8:30 pm on January 12, three men forcibly stormed a Wasaga Beach home, grabbed Haitamiri and dragged her barefoot through the snow in what OPP investigators believe was a white Lexus RX SUV.
The OPP has not yet named the suspects or accused of the abduction. OPP spokesman Bill Dixon declined to comment on the private detective.
Kojokaru said he had a private detective monitoring the home on the day of the abduction, but said the man left his shift by 6pm – two and a half hours before the abduction – because he was diabetic and went to get food and get him insulin. injection.
A source who was not authorized to speak told CBC News that another surveillance expert hired by Investigations Plus, who had worked previous night shifts, was fired that morning.
It is not clear why.
Asked about the fact that no one was watching the house during the abduction, Kojokaru said it was a coincidence. He said no one had specifically asked him to remove the surveillance.
Lilo changed his story, says PI
When Lilo first contacted Investigations Plus in early December, Kojokaru said he claimed to be Haytamiri’s ex-boyfriend, said he was a Montreal lawyer and gave the name “Nazar”, although Kojokaru said he had learned Lilo’s real name after doing his own research.
CBC News confirmed that Nazar is Lilo’s middle name, making cross-references to his name and date of birth in court documents to those in financial documents found during a search of a Quebec arrest warrant.
Kojokaru said Lilo initially claimed that Haytamiri had stolen $ 100,000 from him and that he wanted to find her in order to serve her court documents.
But later, Lilo’s story changed, Kojokaru said, and he claimed his brother had been shot. At the time, Lilo hinted that Haytamiri could be involved in the shooting and that it was dangerous, said the owner of a private investigation firm.
Ontario Provincial Police say Haitamiri, also known as Tamiri, was abducted from a home in Wasaga Beach, Ontario, on Jan. 12 by three men dressed in police uniforms but not in real police uniforms. (Presented by the Haytamiri family)
Kojokaru said his job was to keep an eye on Haytamiri and let Lilo know if he was traveling to Montreal so he could call the police.
“It simply came to our notice then [like] he was worried about his safety and things like that, “Kojokaru said.” I didn’t suspect anything. “
In Ontario, it is legally licensed for a private detective to observe a person in a public environment at any time of the day or night, including collecting photos or videos of a person without his or her consent.
Surveillance must be carried out on public property or on private property where the public has indirect access, such as a shopping mall or grocery store, and investigators may not violate any municipal, provincial or federal laws.
Kojokaru said he and his investigators had done nothing but watch Haytamiri and that he was unaware of a connection to criminal activity.
He said he was blinded to learn that she had been abducted.
“When I heard the story, I didn’t feel good at all. For example, I was very depressed and very upset about the whole thing because we don’t connect criminals. I do not support criminals, “Kojokaru said. “I hope and wish and I pray that this girl is alive.”
Kojokaru said he cooperated with the police and told them everything he knew.
Arrest of wanted suspect in attack on Richmond Hill pan
Almost two weeks ago, the chief kidnapper in the abduction case and Haytamiri’s mother requested information about her whereabouts during a press conference. Police said at the time that investigators had failed to identify any motive for the abduction and no ransom demand had been received.
Earlier, CBC News reported that Lilo was arrested on January 21 and charged with criminal harassment of Haytamiri. The alleged harassment occurred in the weeks before her abduction.
Lilo was released on bail after two people who looked like his family agreed to act as guarantors, promising to pay $ 5,000 each if he did not meet the conditions for bail. One of these conditions is that you have no contact with Cojocaru – whose last name is spelled “Cogocaru” in the release order.
The charge of harassment has not yet been investigated in court.
Haitamiri’s family says the woman believed she was being watched before she disappeared. A cousin told CBC News that two tracking devices were found under Haitamiri’s Lexus by car dealership workers when she brought it in for service.
CBC News was unable to confirm details of the trackers, but independently confirmed that the missing woman’s car was serviced during the attack.
Kojokaru said he and his investigators watched Haitamiri only from a distance.
York Regional Police arrested and charged Riyasat Singh, 23, of Mississauga, on the left, and issued an arrest warrant for all of Canada to Harship Banner, 23, of Brampton, on the right, for their alleged role in the December 20 attack on Haytamiri. (York Regional Police)
On April 14, the York Regional Police (YRP) announced that a 23-year-old Mississauga man named Riyasat Singh had been arrested and a Canada-wide warrant was issued for a 23-year-old Brampton man named Harshdeep Biner for their alleged involvement in the attack. at Haytamiri in Richmond Hill in December.
The YRP said Singh was arrested on April 13 and charged with attempted murder, attempted kidnapping, possession of property obtained through a crime over $ 5,000, and mischief under $ 5,000.
Police are now searching for Biner, who was arrested in Edmonton in March along with two other Ontario men for stealing dozens of Ford F-150 pickups in the city. An Edmonton police spokesman told CBC News that the courts had released Biner pending a future court date.
OPP investigators said they linked Haitamiri’s abduction to the attack on the pan; they believe that the same people involved in the attack were either involved in the abduction or can identify those responsible.
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