A survivor’s story

A former escort, Josh Cleaver, 34, is now a programme coordinator for Substance Use and Contingency Management in Vancouver, Canada. He met Bruce McArthur 10 years ago when he was hired by him for sex.

When did you irst meet McArthur?

I met him back in 2012 through Craigslist where I had put out an ad as an escort, to which he responded. After his response I met him within a couple of hours. What was your relationship with him?

He was a client.

Can you tell us what happened when you met McArthur?

He was friendly. Looking back, it’s scary how friendly he was. However, I did have really shaky legs despite feeling normal — it was as though my subconscious was trying to tell me something. When he took my blindfold off, he had a scary, cold, dead look in his eyes, but I felt aloof and didn’t think much of it other than he seemed a bit wired [on drugs]. After that, he asked if I wanted to go for breakfast and we went around the corner from his apartment.

You said McArthur had a “cold, dead look in his eyes” when the blindfold was taken off. How do you feel now about that incident? That look in his eyes still scares me to this day. Looking back, I can see the red –lags, but at the time I felt the situation was normal.

How did you feel when you found out that McArthur had been arrested for murder?

At –irst, I didn’t recognise him, until further images came out, one of them being the one I had seen on Craigslist, so I then realised who it was. It messed me up as I didn’t feel as though I could cry about it as I was considered to be one of the lucky ones, so I didn’t get the support that I needed at the time.