Building contractor finds mummified baby in wall

A Canadian building contractor renovating a Toronto home discovered the mummified remains of a baby wrapped in an 80-year-old newspaper.

Bob Kinghorn, 37, said he was drilling a hole in a beam to run a wire through the wall when he saw what he thought was a package. When he sliced it open, he was hit with a strong smell, he said Wednesday.

"I pulled it back and seen a baby in the fetal position," Kinghorn said. "It was disbelief, I didn't believe it. I thought it was a cat, dog, or something."

The remains were wrapped in a newspaper dated Sept. 12, 1925.

He said he dropped his tools, left the house and walked two doors down the street to his own home, where he told his wife what he had found.

"I started crying, because I have a four-month-old baby, and it was the size of my baby," he said.

Kinghorn's wife called police, who arrived shortly after 8 p.m. Tuesday. Police were at the scene until about midnight, when the home was turned back over to its owners.

Police said an autopsy will be held Wednesday to determine the child's gender and cause of death. The body is not easily identifiable because of its level of decomposition, Sgt. Robert Whalen said.

The current homeowners are not suspects in the investigation, he added.