Police close chapter on probe with ID of victim’s remains
Majeed Kayhan last of 8 alleged McArthur victims to be identified
Some closure has come at last for the family of an alleged victim of Bruce McArthur, as a chapter ends in the sprawling investigation into the accused serial killer.
Almost six months to the day since one of the biggest arrests in Toronto’s history, police announced they have at last found the remains of Majeed Kayhan, 58, who detectives believe was killed by McArthur in 2012 — the third in an alleged string of eight homicides.
Kayhan was the sole victim whose remains had not been recovered during the exhaustive investigation.
The remains of the seven other men were recovered months ago, inside large planters at a Leaside home where McArthur worked for years as a landscaper. Earlier this month, investigators and canine units began a comprehensive excavation of a forested ravine behind the Mallory Cres. home where those planters were seized.
They recovered human remains almost every day of the nine-day dig, which ended last week.
Forensic testing has since linked some of those remains to Kayhan, acting Insp. Hank Idsinga confirmed at a news conference Friday. While testing continues on all remains recovered to date, there’s no evidence to suggest there are any other remains to be found elsewhere, he said.
“Right now I have nothing to indicate there’s anything more than the eight victims,” the lead homicide detective said.
“I hope that it remains at just eight victims.”
Idsinga said investigators have “some ideas” why Kayhan’s remains were found in the ravine while the others were found in the planters, but he would not reveal them. McArthur was charged with first-degree murder in Kayhan’s death in January, but the discovery of his remains answered key questions for his family.
“They are very grateful. They are very thankful for the closure, and they’re very angry,” Idsinga said. “They’re angry, I think, at the right person, which is Mr. McArthur.”
McArthur, 66, is charged with first-degree murder in the deaths of Kayhan, Selim Esen, Andrew Kinsman, Dean Lisowick, Soroush Mahmudi, Skandaraj Navaratnam, Abdulbasir Faizi and Kirushnakumar Kanagaratnam. The men all had links to Toronto’s Gay Village, and their deaths are alleged to have occurred between 2010 and 2017. Idsinga’s suggestion there may be no more victims will bring reassurance to Toronto’s LGBTQ community, said Haran Vijayanathan, executive director of the Alliance for South Asian AIDS Prevention (ASAAP).
“I certainly am relieved, and I think we’ll find that once the community finds out today that there’s a sense of relief,” Vijayanathan said. Much work remains to be done, though, to improve police interactions with marginalized communities and prevent similar tragedies, Vijayanathan said. ASAAP has been leading the push for an independent review of Toronto police missing persons investigations, which will include an examination of how officers probed the disappearances of the men now alleged to be McArthur’s victims.
In the months since McArthur’s arrest, Toronto police have faced sharp criticism over their handling of prior missing persons investigations, including allegations officers downplayed long-held community fears of a serial killer in Toronto’s Gay Village. Kayhan had been among the three men whose disappearances were probed in an 18-month investigation called Project Houston, which ended with no arrests.
Vijayanathan said the independent probe, alongside the ongoing internal Toronto police review of missing persons investigations, will help address outstanding concerns around racism, homophobia, transphobia and classism within policing.
“When we look at both (reviews) and sit down and have a conversation, then we can really look at how we build a better system,” Vijayanathan said.
The conclusion of the excavation at Mallory Cres. marks the end of the resource- and timeintensive property searches that have taken place at approximately 100 locations linked to McArthur through his landscaping business. That includes an exacting, four-month search of McArthur’s Thorncliffe Park apartment, which helped make the case the largest forensic examination in Toronto police history. While recent media coverage of the latest excavation has generated new tips, they are unlikely to lead to more searches, Idsinga said.
Work also continues on reviews of cold cases and outstanding missing persons investigations dating back to the 1970s and 1980s. To date, police have found no evidence linking McArthur to any of the cases under review.
“You’re happy and content that you’ve found what you’ve found, and brought to a resolution some very difficult questions and gotten some answers for the families,” Idsinga said. “But I think it’s very hard, under the circumstances and the tragedy of it all, to be happy.”
McArthur is due in court Monday.