This abandoned farmhouse in Pickering, pictured in 2011, was believed to house a "confinement room" in the basement, according to Durham police. The house was destroyed in a fire in January 2012.
A suspicious fire has destroyed an abandoned farmhouse east of Toronto that contained a room designed to hold someone captive.
The two-storey white clapboard century home, which sits off a secluded rural road north of Pickering, caught fire sometime before 1:45 a.m. Friday. Several passersby called 911.
"When we got to the scene, it was fully engulfed," said Sgt. Nancy van Rooy of the Durham Regional Police Service.
Pickering fire chief Bill Douglas said the building burned to the ground. So far, it is not known where or how the fire started.
The house, on land expropriated by Transport Canada to build a future airport, was slated for demolition. The federal government sent a contractor to inspect it in November. The contractor discovered a confinement room in the basement.
Police won't say what the room looks like or how it was built, but have said it was constructed recently.
The fire was still smouldering by mid-day Friday, so officials had not been able to check to see if the confinement room had been destroyed.
Investigators are treating it as a suspicious fire and the Ontario Fire Marshal's office has been called in.
There was no word on where or how the blaze started.
Police would not say whether they had kept the property under surveillance since making the find in November or what progress had been made in their investigation into the confinement room. It is not known who built the room or whether it was used for criminal activity or for some other purpose, such as shooting a movie.
Neighbours said the home had been abandoned for several years.
The house was listed on Pickering's heritage register. The local council tried to find someone who could buy the house, move it off the property and restore it.
An assessment of the property last year described the house as being in good condition and structurally sound, and said it contained several historic elements, including barge boards and a centre gable finial.
Adrian Morrow