Police probe disappearances of 2 men, suggest they may be linked to others

TORONTO – The disappearances of several men linked to Toronto’s LGBTQ community have prompted local police to set up a special investigative team, the force said Friday.

The team’s mandate is currently concentrated on two recent cases, which were reported earlier this year, but a police spokeswoman said new evidence could lead the force to reopen past investigations into three similar instances of missing men dating as far back as seven years.

Meaghan Gray said a review of the first three disappearances, which took place between 2010 and 2012, did not establish a connection with the two most recent situations.

Now that more resources are being dedicated to the 2017 disappearances of Selim Esen and Andrew Kinsman, however, she said that could change.

“By this afternoon we could have new evidence that comes forward that would make that connection,” Gray said. “It’s never being ruled out as a possibility. It’s just as of our work today, we’re able to say that there’s no connection.”

Esen and Kinsman went missing earlier this year from the outskirts of the Church Street and Wellesley Street area, a neighbourhood popular among the city’s LGBTQ community.

Esen, 44, was last seen near there in mid April, while 49-year-old Kinsman vanished from its eastern boundary in late June.

Police said it is out of character for both men to be out of contact with their loved ones and have classified both cases as suspicious.

Gray said police do not have current evidence to suggest the two disappearances are connected, though there are some parallels between the cases.

Both men were known to be familiar with the neighbourhood that’s home to many of the city’s gay bars and a major LGBTQ community centre, and both were believed to be using dating applications at the time they went missing.

The three previous cases also bear striking similarities to the 2017 disappearances. Those also involved men in the same age bracket known to be fixtures of the neighbourhood.

Skandaraj Navaratnam, 40, disappeared from the heart of the neighbourhood in September 2010, to be followed by 44-year-old Abdulbasir Faizi vanishing from a location blocks away less than three months later.

Almost two years went by before Majeed Kayhan, 58, vanished from the neighbourhood in October 2012.

Two months after Kayhan disappeared, police convened an investigation dubbed Project Houston to examine all three cases at once. Gray said the 18-month-long probe yielded neither suspects nor leads into the men’s fate.

While police do not currently have evidence to suggest the cases of all five men are related, Gray conceded that members of the LGBTQ community are concerned and pushing for answers.

Greg Downer, who was personally acquainted with Kinsman, agreed.

He said members of the LGBTQ community are at an elevated risk of falling through the cracks, as they are more likely to be isolated from family or friends who may be uncomfortable with their sexual orientation or identity.

But he said the recent disappearances have highlighted the fact that if there is a predator at work, anyone can be at risk.

“He’s big and strong, but he’s also intelligent,” Downer said of Kinsman. “He’s street smart. So that’s one of the hard things that’s been bothering me, is how could somebody like that get into a situation when they couldn’t defend themselves or get away.”

Downer has organized a meeting for the community next week for people to air their anxieties and discuss next steps to help search for the missing men. Gray said representatives from the police force will also be attending.