Toronto man with history of escaping CAMH tracked down by cops

2 hours ago 10

Toronto Police say they were able to find Tesfaye Asefa, 47, on Thursday after 8th escape in as many years

Published May 19, 2026 • 1 minute read

A 47-year-old Toronto man with a history of walking out of mental-health facilities and described by police as being “potentially dangerous” has been tracked down after going missing for more than a month.

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Toronto Police said on Tuesday that they were able to track down Tesfaye Asefa on Thursday after he went missing on April 2 in the Queen St. W.-Ossington Ave. area, where the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health is located.

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“The Toronto Police Service would like to thank the public for their assistance,” police said in a news release.

It was at least the eighth time that Asefa had walked out of the mental-health facility in as many years.

He was found not criminally responsible for two sexual assaults in 2011 and cops said that Asefa was bound by a Form 49 warrant of committal, which is issued by the Ontario Review Board when a person is found not criminally responsible in court.

Long history of similar escapes

The warrant commits the person to the custody of a provincial psychiatric hospital and subjects them to abide by certain conditions.

Past reporting indicates Asefa first disappeared from the mental-health facility in August 2018. He went missing again in May 2019 and walked out the door again in January 2020 before he was located two weeks later.

Asefa went AWOL yet again in June 2020 and January 2023 before being returned to the psychiatric facility.

In July 2025, police said Asefa allegedly took off from the mental-health hospital and was last seen in the area of Danforth and Jones Aves. That incident would have been at least the seventh time he went missing since being committed before his latest escape.

— With files from Spiro Papuckoski.

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