Toronto’s police chief has angered the city’s gay community by suggesting they did nothing to help catch an alleged serial killer preying on its members.
Bruce McArthur was on February 18 arrested and charged with six counts of first-degree murder over missing persons cases going back years.
Police came under fire for not acting sooner, but Chief Mark Saunders accused people who knew information that would have helped of not coming forward.
Bruce McArthur was on February 18 arrested and charged with six counts of first-degree murder over missing persons cases going back years
Toronto police chief Mark Saunders angered the city’s gay community by suggesting they did nothing to help catch the alleged serial killer preying on its members
‘We knew that people were missing and we knew we didn’t have the right answers. But nobody was coming to us with anything,’ he told the Globe and Mail.
‘We knew something was up… We did not have the evidence. If anyone knew before us, it’s people who knew him very, very well. And so that did not come out.’
Chief Saunders claimed there was ‘strong potential that the outcome could have been different’ if they had more reports.
He said information had been reported after McArthur’s arrest that could have helped them catch him years ago.
Haran Vijayanathan, executive director of the Alliance for South Asian AIDS Prevention advocacy group, said Saunders should retract the comments.
‘This is actually just going to push that divide a bit further and not allow people to work together. The chief is creating his own problems now,’ he said.
Haran Vijayanathan, executive director of the Alliance for South Asian AIDS Prevention advocacy group, said Saunders should retract the comments
To many shocked neighbors, McArthur was a once married, affable father and grandfather who played Santa Claus (right) at Agincourt Mall
Toronto city Councilor Kristyn Wong-Tam, whose district includes Toronto’s Gay Village, said she was shocked by the comments and called them inaccurate.
‘I know for a fact that the community rallied around asking for additional resources and attention to the missing men (as early as 2010 and 2011),’ she said.
Members of the LGBTQ community were long voicing concerns about a potential serial killer and pushing for answers in light of the disappearances, which were deemed suspicious.
Relations between the gay community and police were strained by a long history of bathhouse raids and mistrust activists said made witnesses less likely to come forward.
Bruce McArthur, appeared in court via video link Friday where he was charged with killing his former lover Skandaraj ‘Skanda’ Navaratnam, 40, (pictured) his sixth alleged victim
This map shows the locations the five known victims were last seen in around Toronto. Kayhan and Esen were last seen around the city’s Gay Village area
Police ran a two-year investigation called Project Houston to investigate the 2010 and 2012 disappearances of Skandaraj Navaratnam, 40, Abdulbasir Faizi, 42, and Majeed Kayhan, 58.
The investigation failed to identify McArthur as the alleged murderer and Chief Saunders said as recently as December there was no evidence of a serial killer.
However, he staunchly defended police handling of the case, saying they did everything they could with the information available.
Police found the dismembered remains of six individuals this year in large planters at a home where McArthur did landscaping work and that he used as storage.
Investigators have identified three sets of remains so far – 49-year-old Kinsman, 50-year-old Soroush Mahmudi and 40-year-old Skandaraj Navaratnam.
McArthur is charged with first-degree murder in their deaths, as well as the presumed deaths of 44-year-old Esen, Majeed Kayhan, 58, and Dean Lisowick, either 43 or 44. Police believed there were more victims.
McArthur was arrested on January 18 when cops found a man bound in his apartment
People hold a candlelight vigil on February 13 to remember the victims of alleged serial killer Bruce McArthur in Toronto
The 66-year-old allegedly lured his victims through gay dating sites like SilverDaddies and fetish site Recon where he advertised for ‘submissive’ men.
Mr Vijayanathan said police didn’t get anywhere in their investigations until Andrew Kinsman, 49, a prominent white gay activist, went missing last June.
‘Until that point, all the South Asian men that went missing kind of fell by the wayside and nobody paid attention until something happened in the white community,’ he said.
McArthur was believed to have chosen victims whose disappearance attracted little attention, including a homeless man, a prostitute and crack cocaine user.
‘There’s a part of me that says Bruce wanted to get caught because he broke that pattern of preying on the vulnerable,’ Mr Vijayanathan said.
McArthur was finally arrested when police found a man tied to the landscaper’s bed, but unharmed, and searched his house.
Police admitted to having him under surveillance but only acted when they saw the man enter the house.
WHO WERE THE VICTIMS OF TORONTO SERIAL KILLER
Toronto landscaper Bruce McArthur, 66, has been charged with first-degree murder in the deaths of five men. Police fear there may be even more victims yet to be uncovered.
Majeed Kayhan, 58
Reported missing on October 25, 2012.
An immigrant from Afghanistan who frequented bars in the Gay Village near Church and Wellesley Streets.
Soroush Marmudi, 50
Reported missing by his family in Scarborough in August 2015.
Marmudi was not known to openly associate with Toronto’s gay scene.
Selim Esen, 44
Last seen April 14, 2017 in the Yonge and Bloor area.
A Turkish native, he frequented the Gay Village area and Kensington Market and often had a small plastic suitcase on wheels similar to a carry-on bag.
His relationship with McArthur is unclear.
Dean Lisowick, 47
A homeless occupant of the shelter system who had not been reported missing.
Police believe he was murdered between May 2016 and July 2017.
Andrew Kinsman, 49
Last seen June 26, 2017 at 71 Winchester Street.
Friends begin posting his image in the area and surrounding neighborhoods soon after he disappeared.
Police believe he had a sexual relationship with McArthur.
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