The 46-year-old suspect in the case was taken into custody in a strip mall at 10:30 p.m. MDT on Wednesday.
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The Amber Alert for a missing five-year-old girl has ended following the discovery of a body east of Calgary city limits on Thursday night.
However, at the time they pressed charges, they were running right against their legal deadline to do so before having to release him.
Marsman was the subject of an Alberta-wide Amber Alert, which ended in tragedy Thursday night when her body was found in a rural area near Chestermere, Alta.
They were seen in the northwest Calgary neighbourhood where Taliyah lived with her mother, Sara Baillie, who was found dead that evening in their basement suite.
Edward Delten Downey, 46 – a man who police say has an “extensive criminal history” – faces two counts of first-degree murder in Taliyah’s death and that of her mother, Sara Baillie, 34.
“The family is devastated”, Insp.
An autopsy will be done on the body today. It was known right away that this was not a typical kidnapping, as the mother had already been found dead by the time the Calgary police began making appeals to find the child. Marsman is cooperating with police, but they aren’t ruling out anyone as a suspect.
On Wednesday, Coleman said the girl seen by witnesses around midday Monday had a reddish suitcase, suggesting whoever had her intends to look after her. Baillie’s death was ruled a homicide.
Coleman says he was in the area northeast of Calgary where police search teams are scouring the grass looking for signs of the girl.
A young girl matching Taliyah’s description was spotted by witnesses around 11:30 a.m. Monday with a “stocky black male” not far from her home.
Police said earlier that Downey knew the victims’ family. Police don’t release any details about his identity other than to say he is not Taliyah’s father and it’s believed he is connected to Baillie.
Neighbour Jill Grindle, 38, told Postmedia that police had been there since the early hours of Thursday morning, asking residents if they’d seen the gray sedan in the released CCTV footage.
Calling her “vivacious”, “wonderful” and curious, Hamilton said Taliyah “lives in our hearts when we’re not with her and she’s in our thoughts”.
Orr said there is a lot of high grass in the area, which would make a search hard. “That’s something that we still have to figure out”. Investigators are hoping to speak with those people.
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Authorities are asking for anyone with information on the disappearance of Taliyah Marsman to contact Crime Stoppers.
