X-rays being performed Wednesday on the mummified body of a baby found between floors of a home and wrapped in newspaper from 1925 should help determine the child's age, said Ontario's deputy chief coroner.

Dr. Jim Cairns also told CBC's Ontario Today that an autopsy planned for Thursday will try to determine cause of death, the child's gender and whether it was born alive.

The remains were found in this house on Kintyre Avenue.
(CBC)

A renovator, Bob Kinghorn, said he found the small body Tuesday in the wall of a home near Broadview Avenue and Queen Street in the city's east end.

"I said a prayer, and came home and called the police," he said.

The baby was curled in a fetal position with the toes sticking out, said Kinghorn, 37. 

A police forensics team removed the body from the house Tuesday night, and the site is considered a crime scene.

Cairns said it is rare to find a mummified body in Ontario. He has experience with only three cases since 1979.

The last case, begun in 2001, took two years to complete.

He said mummification tends to happen when there is little bacteria in the bowel of the child, such as when the baby is stillborn. It must also be preserved in an area with hot, dry conditions.

The baby found Tuesday was in the ceiling, between the second and third floors of the house.

Cairns said that without the 82-year-old newspapers it was wrapped in, there would have been no immediate clues to how long the baby had been hidden.