Police identify man in photo linked to Bruce McArthur
Posted April 13, 2018 11:02 am.
Last Updated April 13, 2018 2:26 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
A man believed to be another victim of alleged serial killer Bruce McArthur has been identified after investigators released his photograph and appealed to the public for help, police said Friday.
McArthur, a 66-year-old self-employed landscaper, currently faces seven counts of first-degree murder in connection with men who had ties to the city’s LGBTQ community.
In early March, police released a photograph of a dead man believed to be another one of the McArthur’s alleged victims, saying they needed help identifying the bearded middle-aged individual.
Det.-Sgt. Hank Idsinga said at the time that releasing the headshot was a “last resort.” Investigators did not say when the photograph was taken or how investigators found it.
Earlier this week, Idsinga released a new version of the photograph, enhanced by a member of the public, saying police had received hundreds of tips, but had yet to identify the man in the image.
On Friday, police said they had been able to identify the man.
They said they would not release the man’s name or details on whether new charges will be laid against McArthur until the man’s next of kin were notified.
Idsinga told CityNews police will provide an update on Monday.
McArthur was arrested in January and charged with the murders of Andrew Kinsman and Selim Esen, who went missing from Toronto’s gay village in 2017. Later that month, McArthur was charged with the murders of Majeed Kayhan, Soroush Mahmudi, and Dean Lisowick. In February, he was charged in the death of Skandaraj Navaratnam.
On Wednesday, McArthur was charged in the death of 42-year-old Abdulbasir Faizi, who disappeared from the gay village in 2010.
At least seven sets of remains, including Faizi’s, have been recovered from planters located at a Toronto home where McArthur once worked as a landscaper, police have said.
The sprawling police investigation, which Idsinga has previously described as unprecedented in size and scope, is now also scrutinizing 15 unsolved homicides that took place between 1975 and 1997.
There is no current evidence linking McArthur to the cold cases but they fit the general profile of the alleged victims identified to date, Idsinga has said.
Police say they plan to investigate at least 70 more properties where McArthur is believed to have worked, and also remain on the scene of McArthur’s Thorncliffe Park apartment.
With a file from News Staff
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Police identify remains of 3 more men in Bruce McArthur murder case
Timeline of key events in the case of alleged serial killer Bruce McArthur
A glance at Bruce McArthur’s alleged victims
