Murder count grows
Skandaraj Navaratnam disappeared from Gay Village in 2010
Bruce McArthur now faces six counts of first-degree murder as Skandaraj Navaratnam is added to list of victims of alleged serial killer,
Years after he disappeared, his siblings continued to “hope and pray that nothing had happened” to their brother.
But loved ones of Skandaraj “Skanda” Navaratnam are now getting the news they were dreading, as the number of victims attributed to accused serial killer Bruce McArthur continues to grow.
The 66-year-old landscaper was charged Friday with first-degree murder in the death of Navaratnam, a 40-year-old Sri Lankan man who went missing from Toronto’s Gay Village in September 2010, and whose disappearance was previously probed by police to no avail.
McArthur now stands accused in the premeditated murder of six men during an alleged killing spree that police now believe began in 2010 and continued until June of last year.
With deep shadows under his eyes, McArthur made a brief court appearance via video Friday. He is being held in segregation — on suicide watch — at the Toronto South Detention Centre. Now more than a month since McArthur was arrested at his Thorncliffe Park home, the scope of the unprecedented investigation continues to expand, as a swelling team of officers from Toronto, the Ontario Provincial Police and even international police organizations probe missing persons cases and unsolved murders dating ever further back in time.
Even sudden deaths are being given a second look, lead homicide detective Det.-Sgt. Hank Idsinga told reporters Friday, saying the growing probe is likely to take months or even years to be completed.
Police leadership has spared no resource — “manpower is not an issue,” Idsinga said — and the investigation is not likely to be pared down so long as evidence continues to be uncovered.
More charges are likely against McArthur, though police have no estimate in mind. “We have no idea,” Idsinga said. “We are tracing his whereabouts as far back as we can go, essentially, and seeing if we can link any outstanding occurrences to his movements then see where we go from there.”
McArthur had earlier been charged with first-degree murder in the deaths of Andrew Kinsman, Selim Esen, Majeed Kayhan, Soroush Mahmudi and Dean Lisowick.
Police have previously confirmed that the human remains of at least six people were located in large planters in a Leaside property linked to McArthur through his landscaping business.
Idsinga revealed Friday that the remains of three of those individuals have now been identified: Kinsman, who was identified through fingerprint evidence, and Navaratnam and Mahmudi, whose identities were confirmed through dental records.
Still yet to be identified are the human remains of at least three other individuals. Police are hoping to identify those remains through DNA evidence, a cumbersome process that can take weeks or months.
Navaratnam was last seen on Sept. 6, 2010, in the area of Church and Carleton Sts. He was reported missing 10 days later by a friend.
Police have not revealed how Navaratnam and McArthur knew each other, however a source previously told Xtra that McArthur once dated Navaratnam, beginning around1999. The two men had been friends on Facebook.
In a recent interview with the Star, Navaratnam’s brother, Navaseelan Navaratnam, said his missing sibling was the second oldest of the four brothers who had moved to Canada from Sri Lanka. His family always wanted him to come back, though they kept in touch over the phone and Facebook.
“We told him how we haven’t seen you for such a long time. But we knew he was OK,” Navaseelan Navaratnam said.
That was until a friend of his brother got in touch in September 2010 to say they hadn’t heard from Navaratnam in some time, prompting a search that was unresolved for years, until now.
All the while, Navaratnam’s mother had never been told her son was missing.
“I don’t want to hurt her,” Navaseelan Navaratnam told the Star last month.
Navaratnam is one of three brownskinned, middle-aged men whose disappearances from Toronto’s Gay Village between 2010 and 2012 were the subject of a specialized police project known as Project Houston. Also part of the probe was the disappearance of Kayhan, the 58-year-old identified as among McArthur’s al- leged victims last month.
The disappearance of Abdulbasir Faizi, who was 42 when he was reported missing to Peel police in December 2010, was also probed by Project Houston, but he has not been identified as among McArthur’s alleged victims. Project Houston closed after 18 months, after it failed to uncover any criminal evidence.
As previously reported by the Star, McArthur turned himself into police after assaulting a man with a metal pipe in 2001, and was convicted in 2003. The Star has confirmed that McArthur later received a pardon for the conviction, which meant he technically did not have a criminal record when police began investigating him.
Asked if McArthur’s conviction may have raised flags during Project Houston, and whether lives could have been saved at that stage, Idsinga said it was a hypothetical question and wouldn’t comment on any past involvement McArthur may have had with police.
For Haran Vijaynathan, the executive director of the Alliance for South Asian AIDS Prevention, news of McArthur’s charge in Navaratnam’s death brought closure.
“I had to calm myself down,” he said in an interview Friday. “At least for the family and community and friends, we now know (Navaratnam) has passed, so that’s a plus, unfortunately.”
Since McArthur’s arrest on Jan. 18, the investigation has led to several residential properties linked to McArthur, including the Leaside home.
Homicide detectives have combed through as many as 20 individual planters over the course of their investigation. Idsinga said police would return to the Leaside property when the weather is warmer, to “see if the dogs have any further success.”
Police have also confirmed that at least one property is still to be investigated, although police have not yet done any excavation there. Idsinga would not say how many properties investigators are focusing on, but said police are “very interested” in at least two or three properties in the Greater Toronto Area.
Investigators continue to comb through McArthur’s apartment in Thorncliffe Park, where a team including forensic experts have been working for weeks — and may be working for another month. Idsinga said Friday no human remains had been found there.
Investigators believe there are multiple murder scenes linked to McArthur. Idsinga has said police believe McArthur’s apartment is one of them, but would not provide any other information.
Idsinga also said Friday that police do not know the cause of death for each of the six men McArthur is accused of killing.
“I believe we have evidence on how some of them may have been killed, but that’s as far as I’ll go,” he told reporters.
McArthur will next appear in court — again via video — on Feb. 28. He nodded emphatically Friday and said, “Thank you” when his return date was read. With files from Alanna Rizza
“I believe we have evidence on how some of them may have been killed, but that’s as far as I’ll go.” DET.-SGT. HANK IDSINGA