Victim in fatal Cabbagetown stabbing identified

The victim of a fatal and seemingly random knife attack in Cabbagetown early Tuesday was a hard working African refugee who was saving up to visit family in December, a co-worker told CityNews on Wednesday.  

Nighisti Semret, 55, worked overtime on Tuesday morning helping to clean a hotel storeroom. By 7 a.m., she lay dead in a laneway near Bleecker Street, stabbed numerous times by a mysterious attacker with no clear motive.

Police say Semret, who was a mother from Eritrea, was walking home alone from the night shift at the Delta Chelsea Hotel near Yonge and Gerrard streets, where she worked as a cleaner and supervisor.  

Frida Depaz, who works for the same company, Andorra Maintenance, said Semret was a good employee who went by “Nicky.”

“Nicky was very professional, attentive, cared very much about her job. She was a little firecracker,” Depaz said.

“We’re sad,” she said breaking down. “We’re shocked. She’s our Nicky.”

Security video taken near the crime scene shows the suspect trailing closely behind Semret, then reaching into his coat for a weapon before both walk out of the frame.

What happened next is the source of an intense police manhunt.

CityNews has learned that Semret lived in a modest apartment on Winchester Street, not far from where her life was taken.

Co-workers said she was pleasant, but private, and didn’t reveal much about her personal life.

“It would appear at this point that she lived a very quiet and private life,” Det.-Sgt. Gary Giroux said at a Wednesday morning news conference.

The suspect is described as a white man, about five-foot-10 to six-foot-two, 150-200 pounds, wearing a dark three-quarter-length coat with buttons on the front, a white or light-coloured scarf, a dark hat with a peak, dark pants and dark shoes.

There was no sex attack or robbery committed.

Police say there were numerous witnesses who called 911 with two even trying to halt the attack. They have been interviewed.

The homicide squad believes the suspect lives in the Cabbagetown and Regent Park area and is known to residents.

Police will be stepping up patrols in the area and Cabbagetown residents are planning a vigil on Thursday night.