Woman's death in Annex house fire deemed homicide, called 'cowardly and deplorable': police

The death of an elderly woman in a weekend house fire in Toronto's Annex neighbourhood was a homicide, police say.

Police are seeking one suspect in the incident that's been deemed targeted, according to Det.-Sgt. Trevor Grieve of Toronto Police Service's homicide and missing persons unit.

"If I'm going to be candid, this was a tragic and senseless act, in fact, cowardly and deplorable come to mind," Grieve told reporters on Monday.

The victim has been identified as Giovanna Balestrieri, 84, of Toronto. She is the city's 36th homicide victim of the year.

Her family members, who live outside of the Greater Toronto Area, are now travelling to Toronto as police investigate.

Toronto police, firefighters and paramedics were called to the home on Boswell Avenue near Avenue Road on Saturday shortly after 11 p.m. The house was engulfed in flames, Grieve said.

Firefighters, who arrived first on the scene, found the woman on the second floor of the home. She was rushed to hospital, where she was pronounced dead.

The woman died of injuries she suffered in the fire, according to a post-mortem conducted on Monday.

Grieve said the woman was the only person who lived in the home and was the only person home at the time.

Based on a preliminary investigation by police and the Ontario's Fire Marshal, police have determined that the fire was "arson with a criminal component to it."

Investigators have obtained video that shows a lone suspect approaching the house on Saturday evening.

"They are observed going down the side of the house. There is then an explosion and a fire," Grieve said.

The suspect, who was wearing dark clothing, is seen fleeing the scene shortly afterwards. The person did not enter the house, he said.

Grieve said police are not releasing the video or images of the suspect publicly, because the video is not of good quality and releasing it would not aid the police investigation.