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Less than a month after 32-year-old Toronto mother Irma Galastica disappeared, the Burlington home where she was last seen was raided by Halton police.
Police, dispatched by a friend of Galastica’s to the house at 629 Old York Road, found no sign of her. However, they discover a drug laboratory.
Houlton officers camped out in the massive home for several days, which also housed the RCMP and fire marshal’s office. They drained several ponds on the property and an extensive forensic investigation was conducted.
Halton police have repeatedly declined to provide details about the drug lab found on the property or Galástica’s case, citing the ongoing investigation. Neighbors say police had been at the scene for several days and had set up a command center in a nearby cemetery.
Eric J. carpenter
The registered owner of the home, Eric J. Carpenter’s father, Richard Clason, agreed to an interview and shared concerns about his son.
“When the police came to my place, they said, ‘We’re not here about this and we don’t care about this, we don’t care about this. That’s why we’re here, because of a missing person. I asked who it was, they wouldn’t tell me the name… They said Eric is a person of interest.’
“Some guys from the assassination squad told me the last thing they knew was that they used his passport to track him down in Mexico City. If he’s alive, why is he running away?” Clason asked.
Multiple sources have told CityNews that Carpenter left for Mexico City a week after Galástica disappeared and days before she was reported missing.
It appears that no one has seen him since, but Clayson has heard from Carpenter at least once, saying that he last spoke to him in October 2024.
“I haven’t heard anything about him, and with everything that’s going on, I think he might have gotten to it. The fact that he hasn’t gotten to, I mean Mexico City, he and I were there a long time ago, it can be a dangerous place. So, I have friends from there, and they won’t even go there,” Clayson said.
“If he’s there, where did he get the money from? How did he have the money? I thought the police had confiscated everything.”
Court documents reveal that Carpenter was facing considerable financial difficulty and was on the verge of losing many of his properties.
Two months before Galastica disappeared, Carpenter was served a statement of claim from the mortgage holder, demanding that he pay off the overdue balance of more than $700,000 and immediately sell his home at 629 Old York.
Carpenter did not file a defense. He did not appear in court and by the time the verdict was delivered against him in September 2024, he was believed to already be in Mexico.
Carpenter also owns two other rental properties.
Tenants at one address received a letter from a law firm in March stating that Carpenter had not paid his mortgage and that they were to make payments directly to the bank moving forward.
One of the tenants, Nora, last communicated with Carpenter in November 2024 when he was desperate for money, writing in her email, “Do you have anything you can send as an email money transfer today?”
“So I sent her $3,000 and then I saw the news two days after I sent her $3,000, so I thought I should never have sent that. And then I never heard from her again.”
And now that house is also on the verge of closure.
“I don’t think he really cares about the house… because what he’s running from is obviously worse than losing houses.” Nora commented.
However, there are no signs that Carpenter is on the verge of losing his home in East Hamilton, where his tenants live in two separate apartments. One of the tenants claimed to have recently moved into the basement and said she did not know the carpenter. The other tenant would only say, “I told the police whatever I had to say,” before closing the door.
Title searches show that Carpenter has two mortgages on the property and there are no applications for foreclosure in the courts, suggesting that these bills are being paid.
With Carpenter’s accounts frozen, it is unclear who is paying the mortgage or how Carpenter is possibly financing life outside Canada. He left Canada owing more than a million dollars, according to creditors and associates of organized crime groups whom CityNews spoke to from outlaw motorcycle clubs.
CityNews contacted several of his former associates – identified through lawsuits filed against Carpenter and Carpenter’s social media – none of whom acknowledged ongoing relationships with him or having spoken with him during the past year.
We tracked down their numbered companies, which had virtual office addresses or used a storage facility as an address – and which all appear to be defunct now.
CityNews has repeatedly reached out to Carpenter via phone, email, social media and through his colleagues, family and friends. They have not responded to any of our communications.
A bench warrant was issued for Carpenter on October 31, 2024 due to two charges related to driving under the influence in 2022.
If you have any information about Irma Galastica or Eric Carpenter, please contact Helton Police or Crime Stoppers at 1-888-444-TIPS(8477) to report anonymously.