Elijah was found six hours later after a frantic search by scores of police and community members. He did not show any vital signs, and was rushed to the hospital. “What happened here is unbelievably sad. And it being dark, and it is so cold and he was three — and he comes out — and he can’t get back in the building, because the door here locks behind you. I have never seen that boy alone.” 
 
 Elijah went to bed around 9:30 p.m. Wednesday. Security camera video showed the boy, Elijah Marsh, leaving the building at about 4 a.m. After a massive search, he was found just after 10 a.m. in a nearby yard. Temperatures dipped to as low as minus-20 Celsius (minus-4 Fahrenheit) during the six hours Elijah was outdoors. “You’ve got this irreversibility problem because the child was never going to get that door back open,” he says. Gray said it was a horrible feeling hearing Elijah had been found by police with no vital signs in the snow. Neighbour Millie Dyer said Elijah, whom she said was sweet and full of energy, was over at his grandmother’s place all the time and has two aunts who also live in the same apartment complex. “We will do everything we can to support that family” 
 
 Elijah’s uncle, Paul Gray, had told the Star earlier doctors are continuing to work on his nephew at North York General Hospital. “He’s a very smart little boy.” 
 
 On Thursday afternoon, Elijah’s grandmother sobbed and hugged friends as she left her apartment. “There’s nothing worse in this business and for all of us than to see the tragic death of a child,” police Chief Bill Blair told reporters following a police board meeting at 40 College St. 
 
 “I think every Torontonian will feel the loss. "You see the picture of that beautiful little boy with a nice smile and the video of the child going out into the cold," Toronto police chief Bill Blair said. You know, you see the picture of that beautiful little boy and a very nice smile and the video of the child going out into the cold at 4 o’clock in the morning, it really is a tragic set of circumstances. And I think it will remind all of us to go home and hug our kids a little bit more and I think we all will grieve for that child and for their family and for their community for the loss,” he said. “He was a happy kid” who loved to run and play on the slides, she said. He and his wife left the hospital arm in arm, both crying, just after midday Thursday.
– Toronto is in mourning after the horrifying death of a 3-year-old boy who wandered outside at night wearing only a T-shirt, pullup diaper, and winter boots. Little Elijah Marsh is believed to have left his grandparents' apartment at around 4am yesterday morning, opening two more doors—the second of which would have locked behind him—to make his way out of the building, reports the National Post. When his family discovered he was missing at around 7:30am, police launched what they say was an "aggressive and massive" search involving more than 100 officers, as well as volunteers from across the city, the Toronto Star reports. Elijah was found with no vital signs in a corner of a backyard at around 10am and was pronounced dead in a hospital hours later. Security camera video showed the boy leaving the building on a night where temperatures were as low as minus 4 degrees Fahrenheit, the AP reports. "What happened here is unbelievably sad. I just think about that child being outside. Alone. And it being dark, and it is so cold and he was 3—and he comes out—and he can't get back in the building, because the door here locks behind you," a neighbor who joined the search tells the Post. "All he would want was his mom and dad. I always see him with his family. I have never seen that boy alone." Toronto Police Chief Bill Blair says the whole city shares the family's sorrow. "It will remind all of us to go home and hug our kids a little bit more," he says. "I think we all will grieve for that child and for their family and for their community for its loss." (A similar story from December had a much happier ending.)