Mcarthur now charged with murders of six men

Toronto police have laid a new murder charge against an alleged serial killer who is believed to have preyed upon men from the city’s gay community for years, bringing the total number of people he’s accused of killing to six.

Det. Sgt. Hank Idsinga said Friday that Bruce Mcarthur has been charged with rst-degree murder in the death of 40-yearold Skandaraj Navaratnam, who disappeared from the city’s gay village in 2010.

Police have expanded the scope of the already sprawling investigation, Idsinga said, and more charges are expected against 66-year-old Mcarthur, who was arrested in January.

“ ere’s multiple outstanding murder cases that we’re looking at,” Idsinga told reporters. “ ere’s hundreds of outstanding missing persons occurrences that we’re looking at. There’s even some ... occurrences where there’s been a sudden death that we’re looking at.”

Navaratnam’s remains were among those of six people recovered from planters at a residential Toronto property where Mcarthur worked as a landscaper, Idsinga said.

ree of the six sets of remains have now been identi ed using ngerprint analysis and dental records, Idsinga said, adding other con rmed victims are 49-year-old Andrew Kinsman and 50-year-old Soroush Mahmudi.

Mcarthur has also been charged with rst-degree murder in the presumed deaths of 44-year-old Selim Esen, Majeed Kayhan, 58, and Dean Lisowick, either 43 or 44.

Work is underway to identify the three other sets of remains, Idsinga said, noting that police could be dealing with more victims not yet named in the list of charges. He also said police believe they are working with multiple murder scenes.

“We are tracing (Mcarthur’s) whereabouts as far back as we can go to see if we can link any outstanding occurrences to his movements and see where we go from there,” he said.

The investigation into McArthur’s activities, which has been described by police as unprecedented in scope, comprises hundreds of Toronto o cers as well as other Canadian and international forces.

Police have interviewed some of Mcarthur’s past known associ- ates, but Idsinga said there is no reason to believe that the investigation currently involves a hunt for other suspects.

“I have no evidence that would tell me that anybody else was involved in this,” he said.

Questions around the disappearances of Mcarthur’s alleged victims had swirled for years prior to his arrest.

Navaratnam, Kayhan and one other man were all reported missing from Toronto’s gay village between 2010 and 2012, prompting calls for action from the community.

Toronto Police launched an investigation in December 2012, dubbed Project Houston, to probe the three disappearances but concluded the e ort after 18 months without success.

Mcarthur is next set to appear in court via video on Feb. 28.