Police seek to ID remains in planters
At least six bodies buried at Toronto home where man worked as landscaper before arrest
Toronto police say they expect to lay more charges after announcing Thursday that they have found the remains of six people buried in planters at a home in an upscale neighbourhood where an alleged serial killer worked as a landscaper.
Homicide Det. Sgt. Hank police have identified at least one set of skeletal remains as belonging to Andrew Kinsman, one of five men Bruce McArthur is accused of murdering, but said investigators are still working to determine who the other alleged victims are. That could bring the number of victims to at least six or as many as 10.
“I do anticipate more charges. I don’t have a timetable for that, I don’t have a number for that, but I would expect more charges will eventually be laid,” Idsinga said outside the home on Mallory Crescent in the city’s Leaside neighbourhood.
McArthur, 66, was initially charged with the first-degree murders of Kinsman, who was involved in a sexual relationship him, and Selim Esen, 44, on Jan. 18. Eleven days later, police charged McArthur for the first-degree murders of Majeed Kayhan, 58, Soroush Mahmudi, 50, and Dean Lisowick, 47. All but Mahmudi had been missing from Toronto’s gay village since as early as 2012. Lisowick was the only victim who was never reported missing. The alleged murders took place in more than one location, Idsinga said.
McArthur mowed the lawn at 53 Mallory Crescent in exchange for being able to use the homeowners’ garage to store his landscaping equipment. He also kept several planters on the property before selling them to customers. About 15 planters have been confiscated from homes across the Greater Toronto Area linked to McArthur’s landscaping work and Idsinga said police are still looking to speak to anyone who hired him in the past.
Forensic anthropologists have begun digging into the planters taken from other homes but have yet to find any remains, Idsinga said.
Wearing white coveralls, some investigators were seen leaving the Mallory Crescent yard Thursday carrying boxes of evidence. Idsinga would not specify what was being removed. The search inside the home and the garage is now complete, but after more than two weeks, police are far from done with the property.
Investigators set up a tent in the backyard more than a week ago and have been attempting to thaw the frozen soil so they can begin digging. According to Idsinga, they used a ground-penetrating radar to “identify a couple of spots we’re interested in.”
The radar sends a sound wave into the ground and detects differences in the density of the soil, according to forensic anthropologist Scott Fairgrieve, who isn’t working on the case. It won’t tell police that there are bones in the soil, but it will show them where it has been disturbed.
Investigators were expected to begin digging Thursday after Idsinga’s press conference but put it off until Friday, saying there is still some difficulty in thawing the ground.
Fairgrieve said investigators may not be able thaw more than a few centimetres of soil with the heaters they’re using and recommended a different course of action.
“I would actually recommend that they’ve got to get some concrete dryers in there,” he said.
The digging will be led by forensic anthropologist Kathy Gruspier.
If any skeletal remains are found, Gruspier’s main goal will be to create an osteobiography — a bone biography to determine the gender and approximate age of an individual. An osteobiography can narrow down the list of people the remains could belong to before DNA testing provides a match.
As the digging begins, there are plans to continue to increase the scope of the investigation, Idsinga said. Police have identified a second potential excavation site but Idsinga would not say where. Toronto police have been in contact with other forces across Ontario — and even a few agencies overseas — to investigate whether they can link McArthur, who worked as a travelling salesman in the 1990s, to any cold cases.