GUANG HUA LIU MURDER: Police have identified the woman whose body parts were scattered in Mississauga and Toronto as a single mother of three from Scarborough in what’s being described as an “isolated case.”

Police have identified the woman whose body parts were scattered in Mississauga and Toronto as a single mother of three from Scarborough in what’s being described as an “isolated case.”

Guang Hua Liu, 41, who police say also goes by the name Heather, was reported missing to Toronto police on Aug. 11. She was last seen a day earlier with friends.

Police are now officially treating the case as a homicide, despite the fact the cause of death remains unknown.

“We’re satisfied at this stage there’s no threat or danger to public safety,” Peel police Insp. George Koekkoek said Tuesday.

Liu owned the licenced Forget-Me-Not Health Care spa on Eglinton Avenue near Kennedy Road in Scarborough, police said. Koekkoek wouldn’t comment on what services were offered at the now-defunct business.

Authorities are awaiting the results of DNA tests, but are confident the remains found in Toronto and Peel Region are Liu’s.

Investigators conducted search warrants early Tuesday morning at Liu’s home near Huntingwood Drive and Kennedy and at her work. They’re also scanning surveillance footage from areas where Liu was last seen.

Liu had one adult child and two younger kids, who live with their father, Koekkoek said. He wouldn’t comment on the whereabouts of the father or on possible suspects.

“We’re looking into a number of avenues,” he said. “The investigation is wide open.”

While police in Toronto had been investigating since her disappearance, the investigation in Peel Region started after a disturbing discovery made by hikers in Mississauga’s Hewick Meadows Park last Wednesday, when a right foot, severed at the ankle, was found in the Credit River.

The next day, police found Liu’s head. On Friday two hands were discovered.

Then, about 50 kilometres away in Scarborough, a man searching for golf balls near Tam O'Shanter Golf Course on Saturday found more remains. A Toronto Star reporter taking pictures of the police search in the area found another body part wrapped in a plastic bag on Sunday.

There are remains outstanding, police said, but searches along the Credit River have ended. Toronto police also plan to bring their search effort around Westland Highland Creek in the Kennedy and Sheppard Avenue East area to a close Tuesday.