The remains of at least six people have been found in planters at a Leaside property connected to alleged serial killer Bruce McArthur, police say.
According to Det. Sgt. Hank Idsinga, the remains recovered so far include body parts belonging to Andrew Kinsman and five other individuals that have not yet been identified.
McArthur is currently facing five counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of Kinsman, Selim Esen, Majeed Kayhan, Soroush Mahmudi and Dean Lisowick.
“I do anticipate more charges being laid,” Idsinga told reporters outside the home on Mallory Crescent on Thursday. “I don’t have a timetable for that, I don’t have a number for that but I do expect that more charges will eventually be laid.”
Idsinga said that police have the DNA profiles of at least two other men whom McArthur is charged with the murder of, though he refused to speculate on whether the remains located to date might belong to any of those men.
He said that police also “haven’t ruled out” that the remains may belong to people other than those whom police have previously identified, potentially doubling the number of known victims.
“It is getting bigger and we are getting more resources as we go along, so it is going to be a very, very extensive investigation,” he said.
Excavation of backyard beginning today
Officers have been at a property on Mallory Crescent, where McArthur stored landscaping tools, since his arrest last month.
Idsinga told reporters on Thursday that police have now concluded their investigation inside the home, permitting the owners to return to the property as early as later tonight.
He said that work will now begin on excavating the backyard under the supervision of a forensic anthropologist; a process that he estimated will take at least a week.
“We have scanned the area with the OPP’s ground penetrating radar, we have identified some spots in there that we are interested in and we have been heating that ground now for over a week,” he said. “I am led to believe that it is probably still not completely thawed so we hope to dig down until we can’t dig anymore, it may be a matter of inches, and then we may have to leave it for a day or two, let it thaw some more and then continuing digging. It is going to be a long process.”
Police know precise day Kinsman was murdered
Idsinga said that police “know the exact day” that Kinsman was murdered and can pinpoint the deaths of most of the other victims to “within weeks.”
He said that police are also aware of “some of the locations” where the alleged murders took place but not all of them.
Speaking with CTV News Toronto, Kinsman’s sister Karen Coles said the police update gave “some closure.”
“We are still shocked but we know the ending to his story now,” she said over the phone. “Seven months we’ve been searching for him and now we have the answer.”
A friend of Kinsman, Candice Shaw, told CTV News Toronto she is still trying to process the story of his death.
“It was just so much worse to think of him as funny, sardonic, interesting, intelligent guy who has been horrible murdered, dismembered and put I planters in this couple’s backyard,” she said. “I mean it’s just unbelievable – just beyond anything I know how to process.”
Shaw said a funeral will be held to honour Kinsman.
Meanwhile, Idsinga said that police have identified a second site that they may consider excavating depending on what they find at the property on Mallory Crescent.
Investigators are also pouring over “literally hundreds” of missing persons reports and conducting an extensive digital investigation, Idsinga said.
The detective added that police are “dealing with some agencies overseas” as part of the investigation but did not elaborate.
“We are definitely going to look at his past and take a look at where he has been and if we can link any outstanding homicides or missing persons to him, we will pursue that,” Idsinga said of McArthur.
McArthur’s son says family is going through hell
McArthur, 66, was arrested on Jan. 18 amid continuing concerns from members of the Church and Wellesley community who believed that someone was preying on men with ties to the neighbourhood.
On Thursday McArthur’s son, Todd, was appearing in an Oshawa courtroom for a hearing related to his bail on charges of criminal harassment and indecent telecommunications.
Prior to that hearing, Todd McArthur told CP24 that his family has been going through hell since Bruce McArthur’s arrest.
“We have been going through hell. This has been absolute hell. That’s all we have to say for now. There will be no further comment from the family,” he said.
Bruce McArthur was listed as one of Todd McArthur’s sureties and his lawyer, Sevag Yeghoyan, told CP24 on Thursday that a new surety will be appointed in his place.
According to bail documents, Todd McArthur’s home address is listed as his father’s Thorncliffe Park apartment, which is one of numerous properties Toronto police are investigating.
Forensic investigators continue to sift through the 15 planters that have been taken from various properties connected to Bruce McArthur.
Previously, the Waterloo Region Record reported that Todd McArthur has numerous other convictions related to making harassing phone calls dating back to when he was a teenager. At one point, he was sentenced to jail for 17 months.
