Police suspected McArthur 3 months after Kinsman disappearance: docs

Newly unsealed documents in the case of accused serial killer Bruce McArthur are offering up details into the months long investigation that led to the 66-year-olds arrest in the murders of multiple men from Toronto’s gay village.

It shows police identified McArthur as a person of interest in Andrew Kinsman’s disappearance as early as September 5th – three months after he went missing. The documents show police requested access to McArthur’s drivers license and financial records, placed a tracking device on his vehicle and obtained his Thorncliffe apartment’s key fob logs in order to follow his movements over the summer of 2017.

What is not revealed is what pointed police in the direction of McArthur. The only reference not blacked out in the documents shows “reports of witnesses seeing Kinsman and McArthur together.”

The documents also show police were operating under the assumption that Kinsman was likely killed. Det. Const. Joel Manherz writes in August 2017, “It is clear that Kinsman has vanished and that his disappearance demonstrates uncharacteristic behavior … and given that none of the other males who went missing from The Village have turned up, it is reasonable to believe the worst.”

Manherz was also investigating the disappearance of Selim Essen, Skandaraj Navaratnam, Abdul Basir Faizi and Majeed Kayhan.

Manherz noted similarities between the missing men, such as all – including Kinsman – had facial hair and would have been considered ‘bears’ in the gay community. Unlike Kinsman, the missing men all had brown skin, were middle aged, lived in or frequented the village and spent time at the Black Eagle Bar.

It was also noted that all of the men disappeared during holidays or events in the city: Navaratnam over Labour Day weekend; Faizi over the Christmas holidays; Kayhan over Thanksgiving; Essen over Easter weekend; and Kinsman over Pride weekend.

The documents show police began tracking McArthur in September 2017, four months before he would eventually be arrested and charged. By October, investigators believed there was circumstantial evidence to suggest McArthur “could have been involved in the disappearance of Kinsman and possibly four other men.” Police had found Kinsman’s blood in McArthur’s car, which had been sold to an auto parts shop in Courtice. It was at this point that they ramped up mobile surveillance of McArthur.

McArthur is scheduled to make a court appearance on Friday, charged with eight counts of murder.