He had gone to Toronto to find work in landscaping, planning to stay in a shelter at Church and Wellesley, and disappeared in May Five victims were noted by investigators for similarities: middle-aged, bearded, patrons of The Black Eagle bar, and self-identified as " bears " gay men with overtly masculine traits, such as beards.
Several of the deceased had characteristics that made them more easily victimized or the crimes easier to conceal, such as moving between temporary residences or keeping aspects of their lives secret. Notes are intended to briefly show commonalities, vulnerabilities and connections to McArthur. Skandaraj "Skanda" Navaratnam, 40, was last seen in the early morning of September 6, , leaving Zippers, a former gay village bar, with an unknown man. Navaratnam also worked for McArthur's landscaping business and friends said that they were still involved in Abdulbasir "Basir" Faizi, 42, [48] [23] [89] [] was last seen December 28, , leaving his workplace in Mississauga , though banking records later placed him at Church and Wellesley.
That conflict remained with Faizi, who kept his gay life hidden from his family, including his wife and children. His Nissan Sentra was found abandoned on Moore Avenue, [48] [39] steps away from the Beltline Trail, a small ravine which is a popular cruising spot for gay men. He was reported missing by his adult son on October Kayhan and his wife divorced in but, as the son of a Muslim cleric, he had not come out to his entire family. Soroush Mahmudi, 50, was last seen alive on August 14, , by his home near Markham Road and Blakemanor Boulevard in the South Cedarbrae neighbourhood.
He was a manufacturing plant worker who lived with his wife. Police believe that McArthur killed Mahmudi on or about August 15, They moved from Barrie to Toronto to be closer to his wife's family. Andrew Kinsman, 49, was last seen June 26, , the day after the Pride parade, near his Winchester Street residence in Cabbagetown, south of the gay village.
He was reported missing on June Kinsman had known McArthur for at least a decade, back to when Kinsman was a bartender at the Black Eagle. Selim Esen, 44, was last definitively seen on March 20, , near Yonge Street and Bloor Street, just west of the gay village, though there have been reports that he was seen as late as April 14 near Bloor Street and Ted Rogers Way in the gay village. A friend disputed this, saying that Esen was in an "unhealthy relationship" and would at times stay with friends. According to the friend, he struggled with addiction but was getting control of his problem [] and had completed a certificate course in peer counselling from St.
Stephen's community house just before he disappeared. McArthur was also a client of St. Stephen's and very trusted within the community support organization. Dean Lisowick, 43 or 44, was not reported missing. He had faced struggles including issues with substance abuse but was remembered as being very respectful. He was trying to work more, as a cleaner or labourer, [] having previously worked as a prostitute. Kirushna Kumar Kanagaratnam, 37, [] last had contact with his family in August He was not reported missing.
When his deportation order was given, he went into hiding in the Tamil community in Ontario and worked as a cleaner and mover. Following the extensive coroner and pathology examinations, after Crown and defence lawyers had information needed for trial, the victims' remains were released to their families. A memorial for Kinsman was held in September, and Mahmudi and Esen's funerals were held in mid-October. Lisowick's remains were laid to rest in late October.
In January , a publication ban was ordered on court proceedings, limiting what can be reported in the media.
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He made his first court appearance on January 19, , represented by lawyer Marianne Salih. Calvin Rosemond of the legal defence firm of Edward H. Rosemond's biography on the firm's website states that he believes "guilty pleas ought only be entered as a last resort". Rosemond noted at a February 14 hearing that it was McArthur's third court appearance without disclosure.
Crown attorney Mike Cantlon said his office received disclosure from police on February 13 and was in the process of vetting and screening it. A judicial pre-trial was scheduled for June The closed-door meeting with the Crown and defence attorneys and judge [] was to address issues such as resolving the case without a trial such as by entering a guilty plea , trial length, and procedural and evidentiary issues. Daniel Lerner, a Toronto defence lawyer and former Crown prosecutor, suggested that the Crown would consider severing charges.
Lerner noted that a long and complicated trial could put a burden on the jury and create a risk of mistrial. Kevin Bryan, a former detective with York Regional Police's forensics unit, considered the amount of evidence to be catalogued and disclosed and believed a trial was "years away". Several media outlets had applied for the release of the psychiatric and presentencing reports from McArthur's assault conviction.
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James Miglin, an attorney for McArthur, argued that this could risk his fair trial rights but Justice Leslie Chaplin felt the reports were generally positive toward McArthur and released them on June 27, Chaplin also allowed the media to view, but not publish, photographs of the victim's injuries and the weapon used, citing fair trial rights and the victim's privacy. In court on October 5, Cantlon said that "negotiations and discussions are ongoing". McArthur was ordered to be tried for eight counts of first-degree murder. Reading from an agreed statement of fact, [] Cantlon divulged details of the killings, which took place in Toronto between and Each murder was either premeditated or involved other crimes which qualified them as first-degree: six were "sexual in nature" [] and five included confinement.
DNA from four of the victims had been found in McArthur's van.
2010–2017 Toronto serial homicides
He took staged post-mortem photographs, typically with ropes around their necks or with them nude in a fur coat or hat; some photographs had them with their heads and beards shaved and he had kept their hair [] [25] in Ziploc bags in a shed at Mount Pleasant Cemetery. Cantlon said that McArthur "sought out and exploited [ McArthur's sentencing hearing began on February 4. The crown asked for a year parole ineligibility, citing "the enormity of McArthur's crimes", his lack of remorse McArthur declined to address the court [] , the betrayals upon his victims, the effect of his crimes on the community, and how he had been a danger up to his arrest.
McArthur's defence counsel James Miglin said such a sentence would be "unduly harsh" given McArthur's age, and noted McArthur had waived a preliminary hearing and pleaded guilty, which benefited all involved in the proceedings.
McMahon described the crimes as "pure evil" and stated that McArthur showed "no evidence of remorse" and would have continued killing had he not been apprehended. Despite this, he felt that the sentence should not be one of vengeance given McArthur's age and his guilty plea. McArthur could apply for parole when he is 91, [2] but McMahon said that it would be "highly unlikely" he would be granted parole. The high-profile investigation and media coverage have drawn controversies including accusations of indifference towards LGBTQ, racialized and homeless persons.
In mid-November , Richmond said that there was no evidence to establish or exclude that a serial killer was responsible for the disappearances. Perhaps some lives could have been saved if that was the case. Saunders responded that police were not being "coy" about community safety, but that he had been speaking of the evidence that they had at that time.
Sasha Reid, a University of Toronto PhD candidate specializing in statistical analysis of missing persons and sexually motivated killers, was compiling a missing-persons database when she came across the Project Houston disappearances. She noticed a pattern and concluded that a serial killer was operating in Toronto. She was not contacted again by police, probably because her academic data could not be used in court.
Mike Arntfield, a criminologist and Western University professor, has advocated data-based approaches to augment traditional investigative work, particularly in detecting elusive criminals like serial killers. His research team developed an algorithm to perform cluster analysis on , American murders catalogued by the Murder Accountability Project , which has led to arrests in Cleveland and Chicago. There is no equivalent database in Canada, which lacks standardized reporting. Arntfield had been critical of the TPS for not admitting that there was a serial killer, suggesting that they could have made an arrest sooner if they had.
He made a comparison to the Seminole Heights serial killer in Tampa Bay, Florida, where police warned the public of a serial killer in November This led to 5, tips being reported, one of which resulted in an arrest. Gay activists and editorial writers have suggested that police only looked at the disappearances seriously when a white man, Andrew Kinsman, was reported missing.
He also noted that Kinsman's disappearance in June was important to the creation of Project Prism because of evidence obtained in July, not because of race. Jooyoung Lee suggested that there was racism within the gay community, indicated by the relatively weak responses to the disappearances of the brown-skinned men in contrast with the campaign to find Kinsman.
There have also been suggestions that McArthur was initially overlooked as a suspect because he is white. While defending the Project Houston investigation and responding to criticisms that police should have recognized the alleged serial killer sooner, Chief Saunders expressed his frustrations to The Globe and Mail that some sources were reporting incidents after McArthur's arrest which could have changed the course of the investigation had they been reported at the time.
He was quoted as saying "We knew that people were missing and we knew we didn't have the right answers. But nobody was coming to us with anything. The story was widely cited by other media outlets and caused a backlash against Saunders, with his comments taken by LGBTQ leaders and the community as victim blaming. One widely covered story in the media was the account of a year-old part-time university teacher [3] from Thunder Bay [] who had known McArthur for about ten years.
According to the man, McArthur had contacted him on the Bear app and suggested that they meet for dinner at Church and Wellesley. At this point the man claims that McArthur grabbed his neck and violently twisted it, forcing his face into McArthur's crotch.
– Toronto serial homicides - Wikipedia
Another man claimed to have been invited through a dating app to McArthur's apartment for a liaison involving "bondage and submission role-playing" [42] in late July McArthur did not want to go to the man's apartment because of security cameras in the area. The man soon began sweating heavily, suggesting he had been overdosed. The man said he lost consciousness and was saved by the return of McArthur's roommate. The man said he was contacted by police the day after McArthur's arrest, and from their questions realized McArthur had photographed him bound in what was described as "a kill position".
In early March , Idsinga said that he learned of "concerning information" in the case which he immediately reported to the professional standards unit; [] they began an internal investigation on March 5.