Bruce McArthur led a secretive life, juggling roles as a landscape gardener and a Santa Claus in a mall. Despite his outward charm, he hid a dark side, spending seven years killing men and concealing their remains in his clients’ plant pots.
Operating in Toronto’s LGBTQ neighborhood, McArthur targeted vulnerable individuals, including asylum seekers and those leading double lives. His victims ranged from homeless addicts to a man with a wife and children who hid his sexuality.
Married with children, McArthur began engaging in extramarital relations with men in the early ’90s before eventually separating from his wife and relocating to Toronto in 1997. His gruesome spree commenced in 2010 with the disappearance of Skandaraj Navaratnam, followed by Abdulbasir Faizi and Majeed Kayhan in subsequent years.
Initially, law enforcement’s investigation, Project Houston, yielded no concrete evidence, leading to its closure in 2014. However, disappearances of Soroush Mahmudi, Dean Lisowick, Selim Essen, and Andrew Kinsman prompted a renewed inquiry, Project Prism, in August 2017.
Kinsman’s prominence in the LGBTQ community drew immediate attention to his vanishing, leading investigators to McArthur. Surveillance footage linking Kinsman to a red Dodge Caravan and a calendar entry mentioning “Bruce” pinpointed McArthur as a suspect.
Subsequent surveillance, a dramatic arrest in January 2018, and a search of McArthur’s residence uncovered incriminating evidence, including victim belongings and human remains. McArthur pleaded guilty to eight counts of first-degree murder in 2019, receiving a life sentence.
Court revelations exposed McArthur’s macabre post-mortem rituals, which included photographing victims in compromising poses. His lack of remorse and chilling actions underscored the depths of his depravity.
Despite prior encounters with law enforcement, including a conviction for assault in 2003, McArthur evaded suspicion until his arrest. Further revelations, such as a record suspension in 2014, shed light on the systemic oversights that allowed his heinous acts to persist unchecked.