Peel Regional Police are resuming ther search related to body parts found in the Credit River area of Mississauga, Ont.,

Police found a woman's severed head in the river on Thursday morning, one day after a human foot with painted toenails was found in the vicinity.

From the time the head was discovered to when the search was suspended for the night, police found nothing new, Sgt. Pete Brantwood said.

Investigators found the head about a kilometre north of the spot at Hewick Meadows Park where the foot was discovered, acting Insp. Randy Cowan said at a news conference.

Cowan could not confirm if the foot and head belonged to the same person.

"Without a cause of death we can't call it homicide, but certainly foul play — there's definitely something amiss," said Cowan.

Peel Regional Police Acting Insp. Randy Cowan, pictured on the left, is pleading with anyone who may have noticed anything suspicious in the last couple of weeks to call police. (Trevor Dunn/CBC)

A group of people had been hiking in the park near Eglinton Avenue West and Mississauga Road on Wednesday when they discovered what appeared to be a foot in the shallows of the Credit River that runs through the park, said Cowan.

A coroner later confirmed it was a human right foot that had been severed from the ankle down.

Police are currently running tests on the foot and will run tests on the head to help arrive at an identification.

The presence of yellow nail polish has led police to suspect the foot belonged to a woman. Police suspect the foot was severed in the last few weeks.

Police haven’t been able to determine if the body parts had been placed there or if they washed down the river, which flows southwards from headwaters above the Niagara Escarpment towards Lake Ontario.

'I don't want to be afraid here'

Search crews, including divers, canine units and an OPP helicopter, spent the day combing the area. In the early evening, there were at least a dozen officers searching the ground and a half-dozen scouring the water, CBC's Jeff Semple reported.

Investigators said they expect to be on scene until at least the end of Friday.

The police missing persons unit and homicide investigators are on the case, said Cowan. Police are searching missing-persons cases as far upriver as Caledon in hopes of finding a match.

"We're looking for anybody that has seen anything suspicious within the last couple of weeks," Cowan said.

"We're also looking for people to be vigilant in the area if they're out walking and they happen to find something that causes them concern to give us a call."

Angela Elammar, who lives with her family in a home facing the park, said her concern was for her children. The park is a popular spot for family walks in the quiet residential neighbourhood.

"It scared me a bit because my kids take our dogs walking there," she said, adding that won't happen again "for a long time."

Another resident, Sherine Ankle, gasped in shock when she heard about the body parts. The park is where she takes her seven-year-old daughter to get some morning exercise, she said.

"It's upsetting, it's very upsetting," Ankle said. "It's sad we don't know who it is. It could have been us."

With files from @trevorjdunn, @JeffSempleCBC

With files from The Canadian Press