All language subtitles for Catching a serial killer

Christi: Toronto police
discovered the remains

Of six men linked to a
suspected serial killer.

Woman: Their lifeless
bodies dismembered.

Man: There could be more
victims out there.

- The city of toronto has
never seen anything like this.

(camera shutters click)

- There is a concept of what
a serial killer looks like.

Do you expect a grandfather,

Who worked as a santa clause,

To be killing
and dismembering men?

You don't.

♪♪♪

- The idea that I was watering
planters with bodies in them...

I don't know where to put that.

Wendy: There were men going
missing from the gay village.

- I'm looking at these pictures
that look like me.

(siren wails)

Wendy: Police get this call;

There's a cannibal within
the greater toronto area.

- We had 300 people
at a packed meeting.

I wonder if the serial
killer is in the room.

♪♪♪

- The reality is that
the police had no idea

What the hell they
were dealing with.

♪♪♪

- They run into the bedroom

And they find a shocking
discovery.

- Someone's life
is on the line.

- This morning,
police arrested

66-year-old bruce mcarthur.

- I opened the door;

"you've got to get out
of your house, now."

♪♪♪

- Were we gonna find remains
all over toronto?

- I don't think anybody
on this planet

Has seen something
quite like that before.

♪♪♪

- I think I could've
been one of them.

(indistinct police
radio chatter)

♪♪♪

♪♪♪

♪♪♪

- As the crime reporter
for the toronto star,

I've covered this case
extensively.

Toronto often gets compared
to new york city.

It's a city of neighbourhoods.

We have little Italy,

Korea town,
and we also have the village,

Which is an lgbtq-centred
community.

James: The village in toronto
has been around a long time.

I've been playing in it,
living in it, working in it

For over 50 years.

It's something that's very
deep to my core.

- Two million people
have poured into toronto

And down church street

For the annual pride event.

For decades,
it has been the heart,

The pulse of toronto's
gay community.

Church street is meant to be
a safe space.

But those days,

And the details that came out,

Were horrific.

♪♪♪

- I used to live about a block
or two from the village.

In the midst of all
of these festivities,

There were rumblings
and rumours

About missing people.

Adrian: Myself, my colleagues,

We had done reports for years

About missing men
in the village,

And about concerns
from the community.

- For years, men had been
disappearing from the village,

Without a trace.

Their faces were on missing
persons posters

All across church street.

- People were wondering,
what is going on?

Why are there multiple men
reported missing?

You know, something afoul
is happening.

Haran: There wasn't a lot
of information,

Just these men are missing,
and that's it.

As the community
was talking about it,

And I'm looking
at these pictures

Of men that look like me,

That look similar
to each other,

I started believing
in 2013, 2014,

That there is something wrong.

- There was a small minority

Who worried about
a serial killer,

But there wasn't much pressure
put on the police.

- Residents of this
neighbourhood,

And the people who frequent it,

Say they feared a serial killer
was in their midst.

- There were men going missing
from the gay village

As early as 2010.

(car horn honks)

The first was skanda navaratnam

On September 6, 2010.

Newsreel: Navaratnam
was last seen living zippers,

A nightclub on carlton.

He was with an unknown man,
and never returned.

- He was a very jovial person.

He was articulate,
and he was intelligent.

He got a degree at the
university of toronto

And was working as
a teaching assistant.

- He had a lot of friends
in the village.

He was from sri lanka.

When he came to toronto,

He was able to more fully
be himself.

- He had his own struggles
with coming out,

But he was out to his brothers,
not to his mother.

Wendy: He didn't have any
family in canada,

So he was reported missing
to the police by friends.

Part of the gay village

Is that people kinda come
and go,

So it didn't necessarily
set off a lot of alarm bells.

♪♪♪

But then, four months later,

On December 29, 2010,

Abdulbasir faizi went missing.

He had been working at a
mississauga printing factory,

And he had told his wife

That he was going to go meet
a friend.

Haran: Abdulbasir faizi
was married,

They lived in the suburbs.

Wendy: His wife didn't know
that he was gay,

And he went to toronto's
gay village.

Newsreel: Abdulbasir faizi
went missing.

Police have only found
his vehicle.

- He was last seen
at steamworks,

Which is a bathhouse,

Where um, men can hook up.

18 months later,

Majeed kayhan went missing.

He hadn't been seen
in a few days.

His son, actually, was the
one to report him missing.

He was last seen

Inside his alexander street
apartment.

Newsreel: People who live
in this area say

Kayhan lived a double
life - one as a gay man,

And one with his family.

- Certainly, back in 2010,
someone disappeared,

Which is not a big deal.

By three people disappeared,

Then it became a big question.

Wendy: All of this
was happening

Within a few blocks' radius.

These men go missing
within a relatively

Short period of time.

That's really scary.

- In the span of a few months,

A couple different men
reported missing

From the same neighbourhood.

This is usually a red flag,

For people who study serial
killings.

My mind always goes
to the worst things

Because I study this stuff.

Often times,
it's really just coincidence,

But this one felt
a little different

Because this is such
a tight-knit community.

It tends to be the case

That people who are responsible
for serial killings

Are hunting for their victims

In places that
they're familiar with.

(ominous music)

My first thought was that
this is somebody

Who knows his way
around this place.

- Three people just disappear
without a trace,

But they were all recent
immigrants to canada

From foreign countries.

They all had a gay village
connection, in toronto.

Haran: In 2010,

I would see posters of skanda,

And then a few years later,
in 2012,

I started seeing pictures
of majeed kayhan

And abdulbasir faizi.

Three brown men were missing.

You would see the posters
in convenience stores

All over church street.

You would hear comments
on the streets, like,

"oh, they've probably gone
back to their wives

To live out their
heterosexual lives."

I was hoping and praying
that they would be found.

(camera shutter clicks)

- A lot of people were
willing to believe

That they just left for various
reasons - financial,

Or because they were married,
or because of islamophobia

And islamic forces were coming
to kill their gays

Who were married,
leading gay lives.

My perspective was both.

You see, I was not immune
to the uh,

Unconscious racism
that we all have.

(siren wails)

- There were certainly
people saying the police

Are not paying attention
because they're three brown men:

They're being racist,
like that.

If they were white people, they
would've found them already.

♪♪♪

- If the three people
that had been missing

Had all been native bond
canadian,

People who lived in toronto,

Then there would've been far,
far more pressure

On the police, and everyone
else in the community,

To find out what happened.

But because they were
all immigrants,

There wasn't that pressure.

- For years, people
in the community

Were saying something's
going on, something's wrong,

And for years, nothing happens.

(ominous music)

Everything changed in 2012

When toronto police received
this tip from interpol.

Wendy: Interpol is an
international policing agency.

They take tips from
around the world

And help notify the police
within a certain jurisdiction.

The tip originated
in switzerland.

Someone within the toronto
police service gets this call

(phone rings)
that, might sound strange,

But potentially there is
a cannibal working within

The greater toronto area.

(ominous music)

- When you're first told,
it's unbelievable,

You're like, "really?
Come on, a cannibal?"

It's somebody online,

Confessing to a murder,
to somebody else who's online.

And then, well,
hold on a second,

Actually we do have a
missing man from toronto

Who fits the profile that this
individual was talking about.

- This source helped
authorities over in europe

With a cannibalism
investigation over there,

And was determined to be,
uh, credible.

- They were able to identify
that skanda navaratnam,

One of the men who'd gone
missing from the gay village,

May actually be the victim
involved here.

(ominous music)

So, they began looking
into skanda's disappearance,

And then realized,

There's actually other men
who fit into this category

Who have gone missing
from the gay village.

Newsreel: Police now believe
the disappearances

May be connected.

- Police are wondering,
and investigating,

Whether or not these missing
men had been killed,

And then, potentially eaten.

- I was working at homicide
at the time.

I became involved
in the investigation

That became "project houston,"
December of 2012.

- The toronto police named
this investigation

"project houston"
because it was

"houston, we have a problem."

(ominous music)

(siren wails)

Wendy: Who is bruce mcarthur?
Man: I only knew him as bruce.

- How serious did police
take this investigation?

- We didn't know how big
this was gonna get.

- The police asked us
to come for a meeting,

And then they said,
"we found several bodies."

- This is, bar none,

The biggest crime story
to ever hit this city.

♪♪♪

♪♪♪

♪♪♪

- I was called into a meeting

With my unit commander
at homicide

And briefed on what they had.

James: A source in switzerland,

Had infiltrated a cannibalism
ring online,

Discussing torture scenarios.

It was out of toronto.

- Based on the information
that that witness

Had gathered online;

He'd believed it was skanda

That the cannibal
was talking about.

(siren wails)

We were actually able to go
to switzerland

And interview this person.

They had identified
the username as john jacobs,

In a website that catered
to people

With cannibal fetishes.

John jacobs was identified
as james brunton.

- James brunton,

He started being the focus
of this investigation.

- He was married

And would frequent
the gay village in toronto.

We could place him in the
village on several occasions.

- The investigation ramped up.

Police started really looking
at his online activity.

They ended up searching
through his home.

They began realizing
that he taped

Male hockey players,
without their knowledge,

While they were
in a change room.

- And there was an awful lot
of surveillance conducted.

It was a very, very large

Investigation and operation

To get us to the point where
we were finally able to say

This guy hasn't killed anybody.

- It ends up not being
a cannibalism ring,

But what they end up uncovering
is child pornography.

Newsreel: 65-year-old,
james alex brunton,

Walked out of court today,

After being sentenced
for making, possessing,

And distributing
child pornography.

- He was ultimately charged
with child pornography

And sexual offences,

And he was arrested,
and ultimately,

He pled guilty to some
of the charges.

(siren wails)

Wendy: Toronto police came
to the conclusion that,

While he was involved in things

That many of us would
consider to be disgusting

And reprehensible,

Ultimately, they weren't
able to find any evidence

That connected him
to skanda navaratnam

Or any of the men

That had gone missing
from the gay village.

♪♪♪

- The project then resorted
back

To a missing person
investigation.

A missing person investigation
is far different.

For the most part, statistics
are the person is missing

Because they wanna be missing.

Missing persons are
not criminal offences.

- They'd opened up
an investigation

Into these missing men

And had nothing to show for it.

♪♪♪

(cars whoosh by)

- In June of 2013,

We made a public appeal

Specifically about those
three missing persons.

Newsreel: With posters now
up around the neighbourhood,

Local residents
are on the lookout.

- Yeah, it is a little bit
scary to know

That three people vanished.

- They started doing more
interviews

With members of the gay village
community.

- A lot of people came forward

And attempted to help
provide information.

Wendy: One of the men
that was interviewed

Had come onto the radar
for police

When they found
his email address

In the phone that belonged
to skanda navaratnam.

That same email address
was also written

On a notepad owned
by abdulbasir faizi.

- We have a username
of silver foxx,

But we didn't know exactly
what the relationship was

Between silver foxx
and these men.

They had identified the
username and ip address;

Within 24 hours,

Silver foxx was identified
as bruce mcarthur.

(ominous music)

He was from the village;
maybe he can help us out

And explain what's happened
to these guys.

♪♪♪

He was interviewed
as a witness.

- When toronto police
interviewed

Bruce mcarthur in 2013,

They would have seen an older
man, kind of portly guy.

He was relatively newly out,
as a gay man,

And had just started
a landscaping company,

And was doing pretty well.

- Bruce mcarthur
had been interviewed

By some of my team-mates,

And I watched the interviews
that took place that day.

That interview
had been scheduled,

And rescheduled, several times,
and to my understanding,

He was very receptive
of changing the interviews,

And had no issues coming in.

Wendy: He was a grandfather.

He sometimes worked
as a mall santa.

He came across as very affable.

I don't know that alarm bells
were going off about him.

- I thought, I-I saw that
he was a very credible,

Believable person.
Uh, he wanted to help;

He seemed genuine.

When we interviewed him,

He denied knowing
abdulbasir faizi,

But he admitted readily
to knowing majeed kayhan,

And skandaraj navaratnam.

Skanda worked for mcarthur

And had been in a relationship
with him.

- Mcarthur had a close
relationship

With skanda navaratnam.

He had hired him to help him
with his landscaping business.

He'd helped bruce out
on job sites.

- We know that bruce mcarthur's
clients met skanda.

(dog barks in the distance)

♪♪♪

- Bruce had about 100 clients;
he liked them,

And they all thought
he was fantastic,

Which he was with us.

(birds chirp, grass rustles)

Skanda handed me plants
and said hello.

I thought he was delightful.

Very sweet, very humours.

I liked him
because when I made jokes

Sort of at bruce's expense,
because he never caught on,

Skanda laughed right away

And he realized
that it was funny

That bruce wasn't getting it.

Wendy: Not only did he know
skanda navaratnam,

But he also admitted
to hiring majeed kayhan.

(ominous music)

Karen: I noticed him

Because he seemed
so out of his element.

He was in the background,

Right by the edge of the hill,

Standing just there,

And leaning on the shovel.

I could tell from the way
he handled the shovel,

It, I don't think he'd
ever touched one before.

He was awkward with it.

And just seemed miserable,

Kinda sad.

At the time,
I was so concerned about him,

And bruce was annoyed with him.

"it just isn't working out,"
he kept saying,

"he's just not working out"

And bruce very rarely
got annoyed about anything.

So, that night,

I sent an email to bruce
and said,

"so, how's it working
with that guy?

Is he, is he going
to work out?"

And he never responded,

And I never saw that man again.

(ominous music)

- The point of interviewing
mcarthur, at the time,

Was an attempt to find out
what had happened;

Where are these guys,
does anybody know.

♪♪♪

Obviously, if we had three
missing persons,

And perhaps, any evidence

That they had actually
been murdered,

Or met with some foul play,

Something more possibly
could've been done.

- Bruce mcarthur was a witness,
just like anybody else,

And you could link him
to two out of three.

But we had investigators
on our own team

Who were within the community,
who told us,

That we're a small community,
you know.

Everyone knows everybody.

- Certainly, wasn't unusual
in houston,

To interview people
from the village,

Who knew skanda, majeed,
and-and basir.

- When he left
that interview room,

There was little follow up.

♪♪♪

- "project houston"
was unceremoniously

Disbanded a few months later.

Newsreel: An 18 month
investigation

Called "project houston,"
into those three men,

Wrapped up in 2014.

It was never resolved.

Wendy: "project houston"
effectively ended

Without finding out
what happened.

We have a lot of questions

About why they didn't
probe further,

Either into mcarthur,

Or the missing men
investigation,

And try to find out
what happened to them.

- A traditional homicide
investigation, you know,

A murder's taken place.

You look at your victim's
steps, moving backwards.

A missing person investigation
is far different -

A lot of times, you don't
even have a starting point

Of where that person
went missing from.

Skanda was staying on
a few peoples' couches,

So you're not permanently
staying at a certain address.

You know, people are assuming
he's staying with friends

Or staying elsewhere.

Abdulbasir faizi phoned home
to say that

He was gonna go out for drinks
with friends from work,

And just never came home.

(siren wails)

When you look at most
of the missing men,

There's a natural delay
in reporting,

And in those delay,
unfortunately,

You lose evidence.

I just know that our team
was fully invested

In attempting to find out
what happened to these men.

♪♪♪

Wendy: Toronto police closed
down "project houston"

In April of 2014,

But this was just the beginning

Of a horrifying pattern
emerging.

And no one detected
that for years.

♪♪♪

♪♪♪

Wendy: Soon after
"project houston" closes,

Three more men go missing
in the village.

Soroush mahmudi went missing

Around the time of August 2015.

Khrishna kumar kanagaratnam,

A few months later.

And then, dean lisowick

Goes missing April of 2016.

So, the phenomenon of men
going missing

From the gay village
is continuing,

But it's not widely known,

And certainly,
police were not investigating.

- Soroush mahmudi was married
with children.

He went to bed, and then when
they got up in the morning,

He was gone.

The assumption was he left
for work.

He was reported missing,
but because nobody knew

About the lifestyle
that he was living,

Nobody thought to make
a connection at all

To the church and
wellesley street area.

No one even looked to see
if it was a possibility

He might be tied
to other missing men.

(computer beeps)

Wendy: Khrishna kumar
kanagaratnam

Had been living underground.

He wasn't allowed to be
in canada;

He'd been denied
refugee status.

So, it was immediately apparent
when he went missing.

Newsreel: Kanagaratnam arrived
in vancouver on a cargo ship,

Called the sun sea,
in August 2010.

One of nearly 500
sri lankan tamils

Looking for a better life.

Haran: He was fleeing
sri lanka because of the war.

He actually saw his brother

Murdered by the army,

In his front yard.

He made his way over to
toronto when he was cleared,

And he claimed asylum here.

His claim got denied, twice.

He went underground.

- He was a refugee claimant

Who was going to be deported.

Other than that,
there were no other records

With regards to uh,
him being missing.

Haran: A few years later,

I met with khrishna kumar's
mother.

Listening to the mom
and understanding

Some of the tragedies
that she's gone through

In sri lanka
with her other kids,

It was just too much.

Wendy: Dean lisowick,

He sometimes would work
as a sex worker.

He also was homeless,
and so,

He used the city's
homeless shelters.

James: He was basically
living on the street.

You would see him sitting
right at the corner

Of church and wellesley.

He would ask for money,
and chat.

I had a friend who had
a relationship with him.

We were really quite shocked
when he disappeared.

Wendy: These men were
exceptionally vulnerable
people,

Some of whom had sought refuge
in the gay village,

Because they could be
who they were.

Some of them came
from countries where

You are not allowed to be out,
as a gay man.

- When people who are
marginalized, go missing,

They sorta just disappear
and vanish,

And people don't blink an eye.

That's one of the big
red flags.

These are weird disappearances;

There has to be something
going on.

To me, it tends to signal
that somebody

Might be looking for victims

That they can get away with.

♪♪♪

- On April 17, 2017,

A seventh man went missing.

This was selim esen.

He didn't have a home
at the time.

- He wasn't residing
at an address.

He went missing
with all his belongings;

He basically had a suitcase.

It was his partner
who had not heard from him

In a couple weeks
and reported him missing.

Haran: He loved life,
he loved adventures.

He had also struggled with um,

Mental health
and substance use.

♪♪♪

Jooyoung: The universal theme
about serial killers

Is that they opportunists.

They think about how they
can get away with things.

(dirt thuds lightly)

They pick certain places
to hunt.

They pick certain victims,

And part of that is just
having access to a person

That might be vulnerable.

After many years of getting
away with the crimes

That they've committed,

Serial killers develop
this sense of confidence.

Over time, they might become
sloppier, less risk averse,

And they might do things
that increase the likelihood

Of them getting caught.

♪♪♪

♪♪♪

- A few months later,
at the end of June,

In the middle of pride
celebrations,

Andrew kinsman went missing.

He was the eighth man
to go missing.

Haran: Andrew was a gentle
giant.

He was really a good guy,
and very,

Very community oriented.

- I'd met him in passing
at a party.

He was sort of eccentric.

A lot of people liked him.

Jooyoung: The victim that
got everybody talking

About the fact that there
could be a serial killer,

Was andrew kinsman,

Who was very connected
in the village.

- The other missing men
were a bit more transient -

They'd come in, they'd go out,

They were in shelters.

Andrew kinsman was different -

Had a really strong community

Of friends around him
in toronto's gay village.

- Andrew was a superintendent
of his building.

He had set routines,
and set responsibilities,

And when those uh,

Responsibilities
weren't being done,

People in the building
noticed immediately.

- He was reported missing
within a day or so,

Of last being seen.

- Serial killers believe
they're invulnerable,

But this was somebody who

Was starting to maybe
get sloppy.

♪♪♪

Newsreel: Andrew kinsman,

Who worked at the toronto hiv
aids network,

Disappeared more than
two weeks ago,

Setting off a massive
search effort

By friends and colleagues,

Who say this is out
of character.

- When andrew kinsman
went missing,

It really, really exploded
in-in the public,

And in the media,

And there were ground searches
organized

By members of the public,
and a lot of outcry.

Newsreel: Men who frequent
or live

In the church and wellesley
area

Have disappeared since 2010.

Without clues as
to what happened,

The community is on edge.

- Kinsman's disappearance
mobilized the gay community.

- And it did attract a lot
of media attention.

There was absolutely some
pressure put on the police.

- When kinsman goes missing,

It's impossible
to ignore anymore,

And the light gets shone
brighter, and brighter,

And brighter on this
investigation.

Haran: This is yet another
incidence

Where a white person
goes missing

And there's an automatic
reaction,

But when people of colour
go missing,

It's not paid attention to.

Until something terrible
happens.

- It's a fair assumption
to make

That that changed the
complexity of the investigation.

When you look at systemic
racism in policing,

And in society.

♪♪♪

Newsreel: A community
meeting will be held

In the neighbourhood next
Tuesday night.

Police will be there.

James: We had about 300 people
at a packed meeting

At our community centre,
the 519.

I remember saying to the person
sitting with me,

"I wonder if the serial killer
is in the room?"

Newsreel: Tonight, members
of a police task force

Gathered to try and calm fears.

Newsreel: The recent
disappearance of two men

From the heart of toronto's
lgbtq community

Has caused deep concern.

Their disappearances
follow several

Unsolved missing persons
cases going back to 2010.

- It was decided that
we needed to

Re-launch "project houston"

To investigate these latest
missing persons.

- And that is the genesis
of "project prism."

The second investigation
that was launched

Into the gay village
missing men.

David: I was asked to oversee
"project prism,"

As the lead investigator.

- Selim esen and andrew kinsman

Were missing within a few
months of each other,

From the church and wellesley
street area.

- Within days, they go into
andrew kinsman's apartment.

- We looked around for
any signs of struggle,

Any evidence where
he might have gone.

There was a traditional
calendar that we located

And on that traditional
calendar

Was medical appointments,
bill payments,

And then,
on date of June 26,

Around 2:00 p.M.
Or 3:00 p.M.,

There was the name of "bruce".

(ominous music)

♪♪♪

- You could see the seeds
of shame, and rage,

And resentment planted
very early on.

Wendy: He lived a double life.

This is an individual
who is quite skilled

At deceiving everyone
around him.

♪♪♪

- I opened the door,

"you've got to get out
of your house, now."

- You could actually see
a ribcage,

That was visible in the x-ray.

- This is as horrible
and horrific as it gets.

♪♪♪

♪♪♪

(traffic sounds)

- It looked like andrew kinsman
went missing

Right around the 3:00 p.M. Mark
on June 26.

And with that information,

We looked at the surveillance
video

From all over the area

In which andrew kinsman
had lived.

- There had been a red van
that stopped

Outside of andrew kinsman's
apartment, on the same day,

Around the time that he was
known to have gone missing.

♪♪♪

- A person came out
of andrew kinsman's house

And got into the passenger's
side of that van.

Unfortunately, the quality
of the video at that location

Wasn't enough to identify
a person;

Wasn't enough to, for sure,
identify a vehicle.

It didn't automatically
jump out at us to say,

There's your killer
right there.

♪♪♪

- There was a lot that you
couldn't tell from that video.

Picture sort of, like,
grainy footage.

David: I believed it was
andrew kinsman,

But I believed the strongest
we could probably say in court

Was "a person came out
of that house

And definitely gets into
the passenger's side

Of that vehicle."

Wendy: You can't see
the driver;

You can't see
the licence plate,

But they're able to determine

That this is likely
a red dodge caravan.

So, they take stills of the van

To a dodge dealership,

And see if they can determine
the make and model.

(camera shutter snaps)

If they narrowed down the year

It was likely made to 2004.

- We needed to find this
vehicle.

Wendy: Toronto police request
ownership information

For that make and model of van.

When that ownership list
comes back,

There are 6,000 owners
of that make in ontario.

- I had gone home for the day,

I was in court that day
with another murder,

And I was at my dining room
table,

Looking through
the excel spreadsheet.

Had the name of bruce
in the back of my mind.

Bruce was a name
from the calendar,

Who we had not identified.

So, I just happened to run
bruce in the excel spreadsheet,

And it minimized 6,100-plus
lines, down to five.

I looked at each individual
person

And into their background,

To see if they had any
dealings with the police,

And, and everyone didn't,

Except for bruce mcarthur.

(computer beeps)

♪♪♪

When I looked into
bruce mcarthur's background,

I learned he had been involved
in a violent interaction

In the back of that van,
a year prior.

(ominous music)

- There is no doubt
in john doe's mind

That bruce was trying
to kill him that day.

- Bruce mcarthur turned himself
in later that night,

And told police,

Actually it had been
all a misunderstanding.

- Bruce mcarthur got ahead
of things

And told his side of the story.

James: Cop basically believed
what mcarthur said,

And that it was just
hanky-panky, and let him go,

And didn't file anything.

Wendy: Toronto police, they're
supposed to take pictures

Within 72 hours after an
alleged incident like this,

And that just didn't happen.

- When two people tell their
versions of events,

As an investigator,
you need to determine,

Is there evidence
that suggests that

One is more truthful
than the other?

Is there evidence outside
of the two statements?

At the end of the day,
the investigator decided

He shouldn't be charged
at that time.

- Here is the opportunity
for police investigators

To recognize him,
for what he is.

He was sophisticated enough
in his ability to lie,

In his ability to manipulate.

The police had no idea

What the hell they
were dealing with.

♪♪♪

- Immediately, based on
the records that I reviewed,

I knew that bruce mcarthur
is a gay male,

And at least on one occasion,

Had been involved
in a violent interaction.

Understanding what had happened
a year prior,

Was very helpful to me.

- When we interviewed him,

We learned a lot
about bruce mcarthur.

He became a person of interest

In andrew kinsman's
disappearance.

(ominous music)

- I was briefed by dickinson

In September 2017.

What triggered
my recollection was

Bruce mcarthur
having being interviewed,

And I said,
"was he silverfoxx?"

(ominous music)

And that's when it kind
of triggered in my mind,

Okay, we might be on
to something here.

♪♪♪

♪♪♪

♪♪♪

- When bruce mcarthur
came on our radar,

It was our job to figure out

Everything there was to know
about him.

So, we started conducting
surveillance on him.

It was during that period,

Our investigation determined
what he did for a living,

And where he went,
his lifestyle,

And his patterns,
and his trends.

- They start to pick up
on his daily habits.

He lives in a big apartment
building, mid-toronto.

He's working for the
landscaping company.

- I wanna know everything
there is to know about him.

We are now looking into his
family, and his friends,

And his partners,

Attempting to learn as much
as we can about this person.

♪♪♪

He was married, and he had
children himself.

He came out
and moved to toronto.

♪♪♪

Peter: I met bruce maybe
20 years ago, at least.

Bruce would be the kinda guy

That if I ran into him in
the village, and we were bored,

It's like, hey,
let's wolf down a pizza

And, you know, watch an episode

Of "the golden girls",
or something.

- Bruce was kind, helpful,
good at his job,

Loved doing it.
Good to his family.

He helped us with our-
our charitable projects.

- Our circles seemed to cross
paths, so I'd see him often.

- I've known the family
all my life.

- Bruce mcarthur is originally
from woodville, ontario.

He grew up on a farm,
and he had a sister.

- His father was an alcoholic,
and very abusive.

(film reel clicks)

Jooyoung: His father
was very domineering,

Was somebody who didn't
express a lot of love

Or affection towards him,
and he grew up feeling

Like he had to hide who he
really was around his father,

And maybe felt like he could
never really live up

To his father's expectations
of him.

Karen: Bruce used to lock

His younger sister
in the bedroom,

To keep the abusive father
away from her,

And I think some very bad
things happened

That I don't think
he's ever told anybody.

- There's a lot of variation
in serial killer families,

But typically,
there is a history of abuse -

Whether that's physical abuse,

Or psychological abuse,
or neglect.

Serial killers,
from a very early age,

Often don't have the same
kind of loving connections

To their parents that you know,
most people do.

- Bruce mcarthur grew up
in the 1950s and 60s.

You can imagine what kind
of environment

That is for someone who is
realizing that they're gay.

- A flood tide of filth
is engulfing our country.

Think, then,
of the consequences

To put these homosexuals.

- You can see the seeds
of shame, and rage,

And resentment planted
very early on,

As bruce mcarthur grew up
in a society

That was not tolerant
towards lgbtq people.

- It wouldn't be something
that I would imagine

He'd be discussing with
even his closest friends,

Let alone his family.

Jooyoung: He grew up
in a family

That was highly religious,

That probably also looked
down upon this, so,

From a very early age,
he learned to repress

Who he really was,

And tried to hide this and
conceal this from everyone.

Wendy: He went to high school
and met his future wife,

And he married his
high school sweetheart.

- They had two children,

And now he has grandchildren.

His daughter and his son,
and his wife,

They all got along
extremely well.

Very comfortable family.

- They lived in a nice house.

You know, I don't know
if there was a picket fence,

But you get the impression.

- He realizes that he can hide
in plain sight

If he has this idyllic family

With a wife and two kids,

Working a regular job,

But there could've been
another side of him

Where he may have had urges,

Or fantasies that even pre-date
any kind of violent assaults,

And was hoping that getting
married,

Starting this life,
was gonna be enough

To kinda keep him
from doing those things.

James: He led a double life
in so many ways.

For many years,
living in the-in the country,

With his wife
and having children,

But also a secret interest
in men.

- This wasn't something
that he dealt with

In early adulthood,
and then he came out,

This is something that he lived
with and tried to hide

From the world for most
of his adult life.

- He discovered he was gay
and had some gay affairs

In the 70s and 80s.

(traffic hums)

(glass shatters)

- This was probably a very
painful experience for him -

A traumatic one that's led
to the disillusion

Of his marriage,

That led to the crumbling down
of his life.

- Did he have a resentment
against toronto's gay community

Because he was outed
to his wife,

And that wrecked
the second life

That he was-he was living?

- The fact that the felt
like he lost control

Over his identity,
over his true self,

Over the capacity
to come out on his own,

Could've been a traumatic
trigger.

- He divorced his wife
late 1990s

And set up an apartment
in toronto.

- The kids would've been
in their teens.

I don't think they were totally
comfortable with it.

- I had a partner at the time
that belonged to

A group called "gay fathers".

They were um, middle-aged men
that came out later in life.

It was a support group.

They'd have meetings
in the village,

And then later,
meet for coffee,

Or a drink on one
of the patios,

And bruce was there.

- Him and his wife split.

That's when he moved to toronto

And began living as a gay man,

Frequenting toronto's gay
village,

And subsequently, starting
his landscaping business.

- I've known the family
for years.

Wendy: Karen fraser,
she's neighbours

With bruce mcarthur's sister,

At her cottage north
of toronto.

Karen: He bought the gardening
business.

His sister called me and said,

"you have a double garage
that you don't use,

Would you let my brother
store his equipment?"

And I said, "well, if he
cut the lawn, it's a deal."

Wendy: He offered to take care
of their lawn

While they were away for long
stretches of the summer,

At their cottage.

So, it was a-a mutually
beneficial agreement.

- It was simple,

And then of course,

He started decorating all
the planters around our house.

I thought it was the greatest
deal I'd ever made in my life.

(ominous music)

I asked him, "what do you
do the rest of the year?"

He said, "I also work
in a mall as santa claus."

♪♪♪

He was good at it.

He got along well
with children.

Jooyoung: Serial killers
like to construct

This mask of normalcy
that they wear,

Participating in wholesome
activities

Like being a mall santa,
or being a clown.

Kind of like this front
to further conceal

Their true selves
from the rest of society.

- He lived a double life.

This is an individual
who is quite skilled

At deceiving everyone
around him.

- His double life then was
that he was a landscaper

Who was frequently meeting
people uh, for sex.

He was online all the time

As a middle-aged man
looking for, shall we say,

Um, wilder sex.

- We have a bunch
of red flags:

Traumatic childhood,

Violent urges.

There's a confluence of things.

The rough sex,

Hedonistic life that
he was trying to live

After repressed for so many
years, escalated,

And he realized that
he enjoyed that.

The experience of sexual
domination,

The excitement that you feel
in the moment,

Having that kind of control.

Then, if he takes it
to the next level

And commits lethal violence,

That that's even more
of a rush.

♪♪♪

♪♪♪

♪♪♪

Wendy: Bruce mcarthur
had been identified

As a person of interest

In the disappearance
of andrew kinsman.

One of the first red flags

Is bruce mcarthur
had been alleged

To have assaulted a man
in 2016,

Inside the red van.

Wendy: While toronto police
are beginning

To look into bruce mcarthur,

Fairly quickly,
they actually learned

That he has sold that red van.

(traffic whooshes)

David: Bruce mcarthur
was the last person,

Or at least somebody
driving his van,

Was the last person
to pick up andrew kinsman.

Before andrew kinsman
was never seen again.

When we start looking
into the van,

We discover that
he's no longer driving it.

♪♪♪

We have no evidence that
anyone's been murdered.

We don't have a-a body,
we don't have a crime scene.

We have a missing person,

And we have someone
who we believe

Picks up that missing person

On the last day that
they're last seen.

At that point, it was important
to find that van.

Wendy: What they did
as investigators,

Was start to fan out

And go to wrecking yards,

And auto body shops
in the area.

- Bruce mcarthur seemed
to have a history

Of wrecking his vehicles
in the past,

So, we thought we'd check
wrecking yards

In the east end of toronto.

It took weeks.

I got a call
from my investigator

That they located it
at dom's auto in courtice.

♪♪♪

- A couple of metro
detectives came in,

Asked if we had a particular
vehicle in our inventory.

They just said
it was involved in a crime.

We assumed it was some sort
of hit and run,

Or a theft crime of some sort.
We had no idea.

David: When bruce mcarthur
sold it to dom's,

Not long after,
there was an announcement

That, you know,
we were looking into

The disappearances
of the missing men.

I did believe that there was
some sort of nefarious purpose

To him getting rid
of his vehicle.

- Bruce mcarthur pulled up
his car, uh,

With the front end
facing the side door, here.

I came out,
looked around the vehicle.

Made him an offer on it;
he accepted right away.

We paid bruce mcarthur
$125 for his vehicle.

(ominous music)

He seemed just like,
a normal-normal person.

There was nothing out of
the ordinary about this guy.

He didn't look nervous, at all.

The only thing that was
really sorta different

Was the fact that he didn't
for any more money, at all.

He just settled on the price
that I offered him,

I paid him, and took the
ownership, and off he went.

- They got lucky.

The red caravan owned
by bruce mcarthur

Was still in the auto yard.

♪♪♪

- Obviously, most wrecking
yards would wreck vehicles.

Any evidence would be
destroyed.

We were very lucky that
it was 90 percent intact.

- They had actually maintained
the van.

It still had evidentiary value.

Toronto police seized the van,

They drove it back to toronto,

And had it tested at the
centre for forensic science.

And I know that-that police
actually followed the van

All the way down the highway,
back to toronto,

Because they didn't wanna
lose it again.

David: The van is examined
and analyzed,

And this doesn't happen,
you know, overnight.

Not like television.

This was about a month later

That it took for us
to get the results.

- Once the forensic testing
is done,

They determine that there was,
in fact, blood in the van,

And it almost certainly
belonged to andrew kinsman.

♪♪♪

At this point,

Bruce mcarthur is named
a suspect

In andrew kinsman's death.

♪♪♪

♪♪♪

Wendy: Toronto police
had their suspicions

That bruce mcarthur
had killed andrew kinsman

Inside of his red caravan.

Police likely could have made
an arrest at that time,

But the amount of blood
that was found in the van

Was not enough
to automatically show

Andrew kinsman was dead,

Or that he had been killed
inside the van.

David: It was small amounts
of blood.

It was blood the size
of the head of a pencil.

As an investigator,

I knew that it could be
explained away in court.

Andrew kinsman
and bruce mcarthur

Had a previous relationship.

An experienced defence counsel

Could easily explain the blood
from a previous encounter,

Or andrew kinsman cut himself
while in the vehicle.

- Even with kinsman's
blood identified

In the back of his van,

And mcarthur's association
to at least two,

If not three, of the previous
missing persons,

You're not even close
to having enough evidence

To make an arrest yet.

Wendy: Police wanted
to continue

To investigate bruce mcarthur,
from afar.

They did not want to tip
him off to the fact

That he was under
investigation.

David: Up until November 8th,

Bruce mcarthur was a person
of interest

In andrew kinsman's
disappearance,

So, any surveillance that
we were doing on him

At that point was more
to understand who he was.

(engines rumble)

Once he became a suspect,
we're surveilling him,

To protect the public.

Hank: Surveillance had
to be ramped up.

We couldn't let him out
of our sight.

- If bruce mcarthur knows
police are investigating him,

He may do all kinds of things,

Like, destroy information

That may tie him
to these homicides.

So, it's crucial police
don't provide mcarthur

With information
that they're onto him.

- There was lots happening.

Ultimately, a decision
was made that, you know,

We were gonna attempt
to get into his apartment,

To search it for evidence.

- So, they apply for a warrant

To allow them to go
into his apartment

And search covertly.

♪♪♪

- We were authorized to enter
his apartment surreptitiously,

Without letting him know
we were in there.

♪♪♪

We got a warrant
on December 5th.

A few days later,
on December 8th,

He left and went to
the east end of toronto.

Well, we decided
to take the opportunity

To attempt to-to go
into his apartment.

Wendy: By then,
they knew his

Daily movement around the city,

They knew he was off
doing landscaping work.

David: Primary focus was
to clone his computer.

There was also a physical
search that was done,

Looking through drawers,
et cetera.

Wendy: So, they go into
the apartment,

They start looking
through his devices.

David: We had several members
of the toronto police service

Inside his apartment.

I was communicating
with people

Who were watching
bruce mcarthur.

He had set patterns.

We knew where he'd be Monday,
Tuesday, Wednesday,

But unfortunately,
the week of December 5th,

His pattern changed.

(music intensifies)

- They get the call that
mcarthur is coming back.

Hank: Last thing you want
is someone to come home

And walk in on you.

And once he started
heading back home,

You have to shut
everything down,

And get out of there
as fast as you can.

(computer beeps)

Wendy: You can imagine
how stressful it would be,

As an investigator,
to go into someone's home,

Then have someone radio in,

Actually he's coming back
to the apartment.

- I'm liaising with my people
who are watching him.

If he drove directly
to the apartment,

I'd say he had ten minutes
to get back there.

(music intensifies)

Wendy: They had no choice;
they had to leave.

(music intensifies)

- They got out,
just in the nick of time,

Before bruce mcarthur
ended up coming home.

David: We were successful in
getting into his apartment.

We were only able to get

About 50 percent
of his computer.

- If I saw that in
a scripted tv cop show,

I would be like, ugh,

You know that's not believable,
but this happened.

Over the following weeks,
toronto police investigators

Are frantically digging through

The contents of mcarthur's
computer.

David: We were looking
for google search sites,

Emails, anything that
might lead us to

An idea where andrew kinsman
might be.

Wendy: They're using all kinds
of software

To look at his searches.

They wanna see if he's got
any maps that he's pulled up.

Any kind of indication
where he's been

In the last few months,

And who he's communicating with.

- It was quite a staggering
amount of information

To go through.

- Mcarthur had a lot
of pictures of men

On his computer.

He had pictures
of andrew kinsman,

Taken when they were out
in nature together,

Taking photos together,
in much happier times.

- As an investigator, there
was good evidence on there,

But it wasn't enough.

We knew andrew kinsman
had a previous history

With bruce mcarthur.

We still think this person's
responsible

For andrew kinsman's murder -
we don't have the evidence yet,

But we need to keep trying
to get it.

So, we were going
to other methods.

Wendy: One of the detectives,
part of "project prism,"

Decided to sift through
the contents

Of mcarthur's computer
with a different kind of

Photo-specific search device.

As a result of that search,

He starts to pick up on images

That are different
from some of the ones

The police had found on
mcarthur's computer, before.

- The images weren't actually
still on the computer,

But we were able to recover
ghosts of those images,

Because they had been
deleted or removed

At some point in time
or transferred

To or from the computer.

- He had other images on
his computer

That included a picture
of a poster

Advertising "project houston."

That obviously would've been
an indication to police

That mcarthur was watching
their earlier investigation

Into the disappearances.

- Serial killers get a rush

Out of knowing that people
are talking

About crimes that
they've committed,

And that nobody is on to them.

- After many hours
of searching,

The toronto police investigator

Finds an image different
from the ones

Police have found so far.

- They start pulling files off
of his computer,

Which would end up being
the smoking gun

For their investigation.

- This picture was
on mcarthur's bed.

It was of a man who looked
as though he was dead.

♪♪♪

♪♪♪

(low hum of chatter)

Adrian: So, they had a photo
of this man

That they got from mcarthur's
hard drive.

It's shocking.

(mouse clicks)

Wendy: The toronto police
investigator finds an image

That is different from the ones

That police have found so far.

It is a picture of selim esen,

And he is dead.

(ominous music)

It's difficult to overstate
how important this was.

This was the first direct
evidence

That toronto police had,

That selim esen was dead,

And that bruce mcarthur
was involved.

- All of a sudden,
you go from no evidence

To link the two together,

To right now, we can charge him
for murder for it,

Because we have a photograph
of-of selim esen,

Deceased in his bed.

(ominous music)

Wendy: The search through
the computer had continued.

They were able to locate
a deceased image

Of andrew kinsman, as well.

- As an investigator,
it's a strange feeling

Because you're brought
into this

To ultimately figure out
what happened.

We were looking into
the disappearances

Of these two men,

And we were now finding out
what happened.

It's not what anyone
had hoped for,

It's not what we wanted,

But we were getting
those answers.

And then, we start uncovering
photographs

Of the other missing men.

Wendy: They came upon images
of the other missing men,

Who also appeared
to be deceased.

This was huge.

I mean, this was toronto
police discovering

That bruce mcarthur...

Is a serial killer.

(ominous music)

- From what we learned,
most of the pictures,

If not all, were taken
in the apartment,

In his bedroom.

Wendy: Bruce mcarthur
took pictures of his victims.

Dressing them up,
putting them near a fur coat.

In one case, he put a cigar
in a victim's mouth.

It's highly disturbing.

Adrian: After he killed them,
they were tied to his bed,

Then he'd dress them,

And he'd position them
in different ways.

Position them in-in
vulgar ways.

- Thankfully, those images
have never been released.

Hank: They are gruesome
and no family member

Or friends, certainly,
of any of the victims,

For sure, would ever want
to see those images.

I wouldn't want to
re-traumatize people.

Michael: In mcarthur's case,

We see all types
of elaborate poses

To offer indignities
to the bodies in death.

Shrouding them in fur.

A variety of-of poses that,

Obviously,
have some significance.

- The kinds of things
that mr. Mcarthur did

With posing, with pictures,

You can continue to humiliate

And debase a person,
even after they're dead,

And you derive this sense
of power over them,

And that's something
that's very tantalizing

To the serial killer.

They don't feel that kind
of control, ever,

In their lives, and then,
all of a sudden, they have it,

And it's this dark magic,
almost.

♪♪♪

- Photographs are, inevitably,

A souvenir for any offender.

There's a whole deep-seeded
experiential dimension

To-to watching, and seeing,
and recreating,

That allowed bruce mcarthur
to live in this dark,

Twisted world, perpetually.

- It's as horrible
and horrific as it gets.

These men were individuals,
like you or I.

They had families,
they had friends,

They have loved ones.

And they were attacked

And played with,

Like they were a toy.

And I can't think of a
more degrading way to die.

- What he did
was very disturbing.

There's moments during
the investigation

That will certainly stay
with me forever,

Will probably stay with
the city of toronto forever.

♪♪♪

- They knew that they had a
serial killer on their hands,

And he's loose.

- There obviously is a big
risk to the public,

Knowing what we know now.
He can't be left out there.

- At that time,
they had no idea

Whether bruce mcarthur
was working on his own.

With every minute that passes
after an arrest,

That's time
when other associates

Could destroy evidence.

Items that are really
crucial to a conviction.

- There were search warrants
that needed to be executed

At multiple locations,
and on vehicles.

- Police need to be very
careful

About how they move through
this late stage

Of an investigation.

They needed some time
to secure paperwork.

This was a major operation.

- We were preparing
for his arrest

And preparing search warrants,

And I had my investigators

Surveilling him, 24-7.

When I got a telephone call
from my investigators,

Advising me that bruce mcarthur

Had just picked up a male
off the street

And that they were heading
back to his apartment.

- I'll never forget that phone
call from dave dickinson,

When he said,

"he's going into his apartment
with another man."

Wendy: By now, they know
that bruce mcarthur

Has killed inside his apartment

Because they have the pictures

Of dead men on mcarthur's bed.

What was incredibly critical,

That they not allow
bruce mcarthur to enter

His apartment with another
person, alone.

Someone's life is on the line.

♪♪♪

- I asked hank idsinga,

"how many officers were
involved in this?"

And he just looked at me.

- Police were talking about
dozens of properties.

- There was a rib cage that
was visible in the x-ray.

- They wanted to question us
about the planters -

Were some of them ours,
were some of them his.

David: I will never stop
looking.

Wendy: You have to wonder
if that was part of it,

For mcarthur.

- I don't even know how
to form a reaction to that.

It's not human.

♪♪♪

♪♪♪

♪♪♪

- Toronto police knew
that they had

A serial killer on their hands

And decided they would
arrest bruce mcarthur.

Hank: Had two officers from
"project prism", following him.

He picked up a man and headed
back to his apartment.

- Police are in a sudden
situation

Where they have to decide
what to do next.

Hank: He parked in an area
where he normally doesn't park,

I believe to avoid
surveillance cameras.

And took that man up
to his apartment.

(elevator dings)

Wendy: They knew that he had
killed men in his apartment;

Someone's life is on the line.

- As an investigator,
I had to look at

What are the risks
to arrest him early.

What evidence could be lost?

I made a decision that he was
gonna be arrested immediately.

(sirens wail)

Wendy: Mcarthur lived
on the 19th floor

And when police were swooping
in to arrest mcarthur,

They had to wait
for the elevator.

- There was only one elevator
working

In his apartment building.
It was rammed full.

We packed in there like
sardines, and made our way,

Very slowly,
to the 19th floor,

And stopping on every
third floor.

- I just can't imagine what
that wait would've been like.

Ten seconds would've
felt like an hour.

- We were prepared to
forcefully enter the apartment,

If we had to, but we knocked.

(elevator dings)

♪♪♪

- But bruce just answered
the door.

- We forced our way in,
as he answered it.

- When police went into
the apartment unit...

...They found a man
who was bound and naked.

♪♪♪

Thankfully, he's still alive.

Mcarthur had taken this man
back to his apartment,

Put a black bag on his head,

And told this man
that they were

Going to try something
different.

- In retrospect,
in the circumstances

That he was found
in mcarthur's bedroom,

Where he was bound to the bed,

I can't get too specific
about what mcarthur did

With him in that bed,

But I-I do believe he would've
been the ninth victim.

- Bruce mcarthur,
he was arrested for the murders

Of selim esen
and andrew kinsman.

Was very calm and cool.
He didn't say much.

- This morning,
at approximately 10:25 a.M.,

Police arrested 66-year-old
bruce mcarthur.

- Mcarthur's arrest sets off

This huge investigative effort.

Toronto police begin quite
an extensive search

Inside bruce mcarthur's
apartment.

Toronto police didn't find
any blood, or hair,

Or fingerprints of-of
any of the victims,

But what they did find,
was their belongings.

There was a bracelet that had
belonged to skanda navaratnam.

There was a notebook,

That had been written in,
by selim esen.

- We believe he is responsible
for the deaths of other men

Who have yet to be identified.

- There were still no bodies.

- He was arrested,

But we still needed to continue
with the investigation.

There's still evidence
out there.

The strongest evidence being

The remains of the missing men.

I interviewed bruce mcarthur
the next morning.

He was very cordial,
he was polite.

We chatted about a lot,

But he was not helpful.

We did not know
where the remains

Of any of his victims were.

I wanted to find those remains,

I wanted to collect
additional evidence.

- He really didn't have much
to say about it, at all.

He was willing to engage
in conversation,

But not directly acknowledge
any of the-

The facts that we were
presenting to him,

Or anything about
any of the victims.

It was a fruitless
interview with him,

Despite it going on
for eight to ten hours.

- We had learned about
bruce mcarthur's

Circle of friends and family

And didn't know who else may
have evidence to help us.

- There were a multitude
of places

That bruce mcarthur
may have had access

And ability to bury
his victims' bodies.

As a landscaper,
bruce mcarthur had really ready

And easy access to dozens
of yards

In the greater toronto area,

Because there is sort
of an implicit trust

When it comes to hiring
a landscaper.

- Being a landscaper, you can
fade into the background.

You can come and go
as you please,

You have intimate knowledge
about people's homes.

You're sort of a part
of the scenery,

And so, nobody really
thinks twice about you.

It's another part
of this disguise

That serial killers can use
to get away with it.

- We've never seen anything
quite like this

With the number of crime scenes
that we have to process.

- There was an address
that we knew

Bruce mcarthur stored his
landscaping equipment there.

He had full access to the
property and the house,

And we knew he attended that
property multiple times a day.

Karen: Normal day.

I got up with a list in my mind
of what I wanted to do.

There was this incredible
pounding.

I opened the door,
"are you karen fraser?"

"yes." "you've got to get
out of your house, now.

You have five minutes."

No information, no nothing.

We went downtown
to be interviewed.

They took me in,
and I knew nothing.

And then I asked,
"can I know what's going on?"

When they say,
"bruce murdered two people,"

Like, I-I couldn't picture it.

So, I defended him!

One of the detectives said,

"look, don't waste your time
on this guy.

I don't think
we've ever had as much

Evidence against a person,

As we've got against him.

Don't waste your sympathy."

Alright, I'm gonna go along
with this.

Wendy: It wasn't like this
was an individual

Who had no social life.

He had close friends
he would meet with

On a regular basis,

He had a relationship
with his family

And his grandchildren.

You can imagine their surprise

When bruce mcarthur
was arrested.

- I was watching the news,

And I heard bruce mcarthur

Is being charged
as a serial killer.

The bruce I knew,

I have trouble reconciling that

That is the same bruce
that was chopping up people.

There's a disconnect.

Karen: "thinking back,

Were there any bad moments?"

No, there weren't!

None at all. He was flawless.

- If you ever sat down and
chatted with bruce mcarthur,

You wouldn't think
for a second

That this man
was a serial killer.

- The fact that he really
had to hide who he was,

From his family
and from society,

Was something that
he could draw upon later

As he was getting away
with these killings.

- Bruce mcarthur deceived many
people throughout the years -

His family, his friends,

And I'd say, the police
along the way, too.

Karen: Police searched
the house,

I mean, completely,
and totally.

The garage had been emptied.

There were maybe a dozen cops,

And there were command posts,
and cruisers.

And there were media trucks
all the way around

The little park
across the street.

- We had our cadaver dogs
working with us.

They showed interest
in the backyard

Of mallory crescent.

Wendy: Dogs were focusing in
on a few different areas,

And namely,
they were sniffing

Around these really
large planters

Mcarthur had brought
onto the property.

T know, okay,
is he hitting on the planter,

Is he hitting on contaminated
soil in the planter,

Is-is there something buried
underneath the planter?

(dog sniffing)

Newsreel: On January 21,

City news captured police
removing this large,

Heavy planter from the property

Of ron smith and karen fraser.

- The forensics services
unit x-ray it.

You can actually see
the rib cage

That was visible
when they x-ray.

- They started to find, um,

Dismembered human remains.

- Bruce mcarthur had landscaped
hundreds of properties.

Were we gonna find remains
all over toronto?

- When we heard that they found
dismembered body parts

In planters at a home,

It's like a script
for a horror story.

It's unbelievable.

♪♪♪

♪♪♪

- What have you learned
about what police know

About the suspected killer?

- Well, christie,
we know that he was

A 66-year-old landscaper
in toronto.

He had access to the property
where these planters,

And human remains,
were found.

♪♪♪

Karen: The police asked us
to come for a meeting.

They wanted to question us
about the planters -

Were some of them ours,
were some of them his.

There were a lot.

It turned out,
there were 15 on the property.

And then, they said,
"we found several bodies."

Newsreel: Three human torsos
of unidentified bodies,

And assorted bones,

Have been found
in large planters.

- The idea that I was watering
planters

With bodies in them,

It-I don't know where
to put that.

(dog sniffing)

- The pathologist was able
to establish cause of death

On some of the remains,

And that cause of death
was manual strangulation.

(tarp rustles)

- There's certainly something

Incredibly disturbing
and unsettling

About knowing that dismembered
human remains were just,

You know, in a planter

On someone's property
in downtown toronto.

Karen: He ate there every day
with his crew

And arranged the planters
around the table.

Because you know, he was not
trying to bury them

To get rid of them.

He was trying to keep them.

Putting them in a place where
he could hang on to them.

So, he ate at my table,

Enjoying the fact that...

His handiwork
was all around him.

♪♪♪

I don't even know how to form
a reaction to that.

It's not human, to me.

Newsreel: As police
unearth those planters,

And connect the dna from
remains, to missing people,

More charges are expected
to be laid.

- We have now identified
the remains

Of three individuals
from these planters -

Andrew kinsman,
soroush mahmudi,

And skanda navaratnam.

- For the months after
his arrest,

Hundreds of properties
were searched,

With the concern
that there may be

Additional victims out there.

- We started knocking on doors

And learning where bruce
mcarthur's clients lived,

To go and speak with them,

While police were doing
their investigation,

Which included going to each
of their homes across the city,

And removing planter,
after planter, after planter,

Unsure of what they
were gonna find.

(ominous music)

- People who had used mcarthur
as their landscaper,

Could rightly wonder
whether they might find

Human remains
in their planters,

And every development
coming out of the story

Was worst than the last.

- They want anybody whose
had their lawn serviced

By their suspect, to call in,

Fearing that they could have
a potential crime scene

In their back yard.

- It took weeks to identify
all the remains.

Wendy: The remains of seven
of the victims

Were found within the planters.

(shovel scrapes dirt)

David: But we had not
identified

The remains of majeed kayhan.

Adrian: If you look
at the geography of the home

On mallory crescent,

It backs up to a large
ravine area.

Off the backyard,
it's just nature.

There could be more body parts
back there.

- Being January,
the ground was frozen.

It was not an option to search.

- Once the ground had thawed,

Police go back there,

And they start excavating
the ravine

Behind the home on mallory.

♪♪♪

- They did a really big
excavation in the summertime,

When they were able to
penetrate the ground.

Newsreel: In the wooded ravine
just below the property

Where alleged serial killer,
bruce mcarthur,

Used to store his
landscaping tools,

This slow and meticulous
work being done

By dozens of officers sifting
through dirt and debris.

Karen: When they came back,

(dog whimpers)

Within an hour, they found
a body in a garbage pail.

- There were more remains
found today.

Newsreel: Police hopeful they
match those of majeed kayhan,

The only alleged victim whose
remains have yet to be found.

- Toronto police were able
to find the remains

Of the eighth victim.

Karen: When they found him,

He was about five feet,

Buried five feet away
from where I saw him.

(shovel thuds)

Right by the edge of the hill.

Just frozen in my mind,
that man standing there.

♪♪♪

People say to me,

"aren't you appalled that
there were body parts?"

Well, the body parts
aren't the men.

What upset me was,

The last moments of those guys,

When they were people,

And they were loved.

They were loved.

They had families, friends,

And he obliterated them.

For his own whatever.

That was upsetting.

(sombre music)

♪♪♪

Newsreel: We begin this noon
hour with developing news.

Bruce mcarthur
has plead guilty

To eight counts
of first-degree murder.

♪♪♪

- That was the day
everyone realized

There wouldn't be a trial.
It was very emotional.

- Mixed feelings.

I'm hoping it's closure
for a lot of people.

I'm hoping it's-it's starting
that process towards closure.

- He pleaded guilty,
and that avoided a trial.

♪♪♪

Newsreel: When mcarthur was
given the opportunity to speak,

He said, "no," saying he had
spoken with his counsel

And decided to say nothing.

The crown says the plea pales
in comparison to the pain

He inflicted on his eight
innocent victims.

♪♪♪

Karen: I knew a man
who was always energetic,

Enthusiastic, always eager
to get on to the next thing,

And this is just uh,

A shuffling, broken man,
as he should be.

As he should be.

- Mcarthur would kind
of shuffle past me.

I always in the front two rows
of the courtroom.

James: I saw him in court
a few times.

He just looked dishevelled
and dilapidated.

You know, he just looked
like a broken man, to me.

- He looked harmless,
but now we know,

That that doesn't mean anything.

Nobody looks like a serial
killer, necessarily.

Newsreel: First degree
murder carries

An automatic life sentence

With no chance of parole
for 25 years.

He will not be eligible
for parole

Until he is at least
91-years-old.

- In canada, we do not have
the death penalty.

He was sentenced to life
in prison,

Without access to parole
for 25 years,

And that is the harshest
sentence

That you can get in canada.

♪♪♪

- There are a lot
of unanswered questions

That I'd like to know, in order
to share with family members,

So we understand, as a
community, how he, you know,

Preyed and selected his
victims, undetected,

For as long as he did.

I have no evidence to believe

That he is responsible
for any more than the eight,

But it's not saying that
I will never stop looking.

- A man who is responsible
for the murders of eight men

Is exactly where he belongs,

And I don't believe
he will ever get out.

And to me,
that's some closure.

(metal bars click shut)

- When we talk about a serial
killer like bruce mcarthur,

Certainly the nature
of his crimes indicate

That he enjoyed having control
and power over other people,

And that seems to fit
with his profile.

Bruce mcarthur lived,
for a long time,

With repressed shame, rage,

And resentment towards
his father, towards society,

Toward himself,
toward the gay community.

We sometimes think about sexual
serial killers

Motivated by sex itself,

But the sex often
represents power.

They feel like god,

Like they have total control
over another human being,

And that power is so seductive,

It's so tantalizing.

♪♪♪

Haran: You hear the stories,

And you hear how lively
and colourful

These individuals were,
and um,

And I saw myself in that, too.

If I didn't have the graces
of my mother and my sister

Accepting me for who I am...

(emotional) I think I could've
been one of them.

Sorry.

- There's just an incredible
sense of victimization,

From the fact that
bruce mcarthur

Was known in the village.

People knew him.

It was horrifying to discover

That someone who had been
part of the community

Was the one causing
one of the worst things

That has happened
to toronto's gay village.

Do you expect an older man,

Who is literally a grandfather,

Who worked as a santa claus,

To be killing
and dismembering men?

You don't.

But I think that's what
was exposed through this case

Is that you just never
really know.

♪♪♪