Remains of eighth alleged victim IDed
Six months after charging Bruce McArthur with the murder of Majeed Kayhan, Toronto police said Friday they have found his remains in a ravine behind a property where the alleged serial killer worked as a landscaper.
Det-Sgt. Hank Idsinga told a press conference police returned to the midtown Toronto property on July 4 after an initial investigation in the winter uncovered the remains of seven men hidden inside planters. Officers spent weeks combing through the inside of the home on Mallory Crescent after McArthur’s arrest in January, before taking the search outside and performing an excavation that yielded nothing.
Idsinga made it clear at the time that police would return to the home when the weather warmed as part of a massive search of approximately 100 properties.
After searches at every other property linked to McArthur came up empty, investigators armed with canine units trained to detect human remains returned to Mallory Crescent for a nine-day search. Police found teeth, bones and other human remains on almost every one of the nine days they searched. On Friday, Idsinga confirmed the remains belonged to the 58-year-old Kayhan.
Although police already had enough evidence to charge McArthur with the murder, Idsinga said finding the remains allows Kayhan’s family to finally find closure.
“It’s a very difficult time for them,” Idsinga said. “They’re very grateful, they’re very thankful for the closure and they’re very angry. And they’re angry, I think, at the right person, which is Mr. McArthur.”
Kayhan was last seen on Oct. 18, 2012. After Skandaraj Navaratnam and Abdulbasir Faizi, Kayhan was the third of McArthur’s alleged victims to go missing from Toronto’s Gay Village, where Kayhan spent most of his time. He was a regular at the Second Cup in the neighbourhood as well as Zipperz, a now-defunct club.
Along with Navaratnam and Faizi, the remains of McArthur’s other alleged victims — Andrew Kinsman, Selim Esen, Dean Lisowick, Soroush Mahmudi and Kirushna Kanagaratnam — were recovered from planters the landscaper stored at the Mallory Crescent property. Only Kayhan’s were discovered buried in a compost pile in the ravine. Idsinga would not say why Kayhan’s remains were separated.
Other remains collected from the ravine have still not been identified, according to Idsinga, but he said Friday there is no evidence to suggest that they belong to anyone else other than Kayhan or the other seven men. Because of that, Idsinga believes police are finally done with the property.
Police will now focus on investigating more than 20 cold cases and several outstanding missing persons cases for potential links to McArthur.