McArthur case now a serial killer probe
Police expect more than five victims
Toronto police have announced three additional counts of first-degree murder have been laid against Bruce McArthur.
The 66-year-old landscaper was initially arrested on Jan. 18 is now facing five counts of first-degree murder.
McArthur has previously been charged with two counts of first-degree murder in relation to Andrew Kinsman and Selim Esen, who were the subjects of an ongoing investigation launched in August called Project Prism.
Detective Sgt. Hank Idsinga told reporters Monday that McArthur is being charged with three additional counts of first-degree murder in relation to the deaths of Majeed Kayhan, Soroush Mahmudi and Dean Lisowick. Lisowick was never reported missing to police, and is thought to have been part of Toronto’s shelter system. Investigators believe he was murdered between May 2016 and July 2017. He would’ve been 47-years-old at the time of his death.
Mahmudi was 50-years-old when he was reported missing by his family in Scarborough in August 2015.
Kayhan was reported missing in October 2012, and was one of the subjects of an investigation entitled Project Houston, which was active between 2010 and 2012. Project Houston probed the disappearances of Skandaraj Navaratnam, Abdulbasir Faizi, and Kayhan, all of whom frequented the Gay Village, and all of whom went missing between 2010 and 2012.
Police would not comment on the specifics of the evidence they found that linked McArthur to the three additional victims.
So far, police have revealed McArthur had a sexual relationship with Kinsman, though it’s unknown if he had one with Esen.
Neither man’s body is reported to have been found.
Three victims have links to Toronto’s Gay Village, though two of the victims identified Monday “don’t quite fit the profile” of previous victims, Idsinga said.
“It encompasses more than the gay community. It encompasses the City of Toronto.”
“We do believe there are more,” Idsinga said. “We have no idea how many more there are going to be.”
Police have stated since the time of McArthur’s arrest that they believe he is linked to more victims.
Idsinga told reporters that the remains from “at least” three victims were found at the bottom of large flower planters, which were located on properties linked to McArthur. Police have obtained over a dozen planters from around the city.
Idsinga requested that any homeowners that have previously contracted McArthur as a landscaper to contact police, so that they may search their properties.
Investigators have access to McArthur’s client list and have been canvassing properties that have employed him.
Police have already identified 30 properties linked to McArthur, and “have conducted searches at the majority of them,” Idsinga said.
“The city of Toronto has never seen anything like this,” Idsinga said.
“This is an unprecedented type of investigation.”
Investigators have removed a number of large planters from a Leaside home where McArthur stored landscaping equipment and tended to the gardens.
McArthur had brought the planters, which were wide like tractor tires and roughly one-metre high, to the home on Mallory Cresent, about two or three years ago, the homeowners said.
“We just hope the remains are just in the planters, so they go away and not in the ground,” Karen Fraser said Monday.
“If they find something buried in the backyard, that’s a different feeling.”
Investigators are heating the ground on the property, leading Fraser and her partner Ron Smith to believe police will be excavating to see if they find anything else. Smith said he never saw McArthur digging while doing lawn work, adding that the house sits on hard clay soil.
“We don’t think (anything was buried) simply because the ground is so damn hard even normally, forget about frozen, that digging a hole in that is almost impossible,” Smith said.
At the police news conference, Idsinga confirmed to reporters it would be fair to now label McArthur’s alleged crimes as those of a serial killer.
“He’s taken some steps to cover his tracks.”
A grim-faced McArthur made a brief appearance at the College Park courthouse Monday morning.
Wearing grey pants and a navy jersey, McArthur’s voice cracked slightly when asked to state his name.
He was remanded in custody and ordered to appear again, by video, on Feb. 14, a date already set at his last appearance.
He was represented in court by a member of Toronto defence lawyer Ted Royle’s firm.