Search intensifies at Leaside property
Bruce McArthur, facing two counts of first-degree murder, stored equipment at house
Police set up a large green tent on Friday in the backyard of a Toronto home linked to accused killer Bruce McArthur.
The Leaside house, owned by Karen Fraser and Ron Smith, was used by McArthur to store his landscaping equipment in exchange for mowing the owners’ lawn when they were away.
McArthur is charged with two counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of Andrew Kinsman and Selim Esen, two men who disappeared from Toronto’s Gay Village earlier this year. Police suspect there are more victims.
They have not found the bodies of Kinsman and Esen.
On Jan. 18, police arrived with a search warrant for the property on Mallory Crescent, near Bayview and Moore Aves.
Fraser and Smith were given 20 minutes to leave. Detectives began to ask questions, at which point the pair had no idea what was going on.
Eventually, they were told that McArthur was under arrest. Their property had been under the control of police since that time.
Police investigated several proper- ties, including some in Toronto and one in Madoc, Ont., after McArthur’s arrest. Three will be released back to their to owners by Tuesday.
Connie Uetrecht, who lives across from the Leaside house with her husband Jack, said police put up incident tape around the house Sunday or Monday, and that forensics team cars were parked outside.
On Friday morning, the forensics cars had disappeared.
“I was thinking maybe they’d let the people in the house come back,” she said.
Then a semi with a flatbed arrived at the house. Connie Uetrecht noticed two large metal containers being hauled to the backyard, where she later saw a large green tent.
The truck was gone by noon, and both a police investigative unit and public safety unit appeared in the afternoon. Jack Uetrecht said earlier in the week two people in suits arrived at the house in unmarked cars, and went into the backyard with four policemen.
Around 9:15 Friday evening, two officers returned to the backyard and came back out carrying what appeared to be fuel containers.