Bruce McArthur
Thomas Donald Bruce McArthur is a Canadian serial killer responsible for the murder of eight gay men in Church and Wellesley, Toronto's so-called "gay village", from 2010 - 2017.
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Biography
McArthur grew up in a conservative Christian household, causing him to stay in the closet about his homosexuality. Although he married a woman, he had many affairs with men and kept gay porn in his room. In 2003, he was sentenced to 729 days in prison after assaulting a gay prostitute with an iron pipe, later having his conviction expunged in 2014.
In November 2012, Toronto police launched an investigation into the disappearance of Skandaraj Navaratnam. An online post was found from a man claiming to have killed and partially eaten Navaratnam (it's unknown if this was McArthur and, if so, if it was true), leading police to suspect that Luka Magnotta was involved, although this was dropped due to lack of evidence. The investigation was later extended to include the disappearances of Abdulbasir Faizi and Majeed Kayhan. McArthur was interrogated as he had known Navaratnam and Kayhan, but police were unable to prove any of the men were dead.
In July 2016, Project Prism was opened to investigate the disappearances of several gay men in Church and Wellesley. Fears of a serial killer grew, especially after the murder of Tess Richey (although this was later revealed to be perpetrated by Kalen Schlatter). However, police claimed to have found no evidence of a serial killer.
This changed in January 2018, when photos of the dead bodies of Andrew Kinsman and Salim Esen, two of the missing persons, were found on McArthur's computer. McArthur was not arrested in the hope that he would lead police to more victims, but he was placed under surveillance, with an order being given to immediately arrest him if he was observed alone with anyone.
On 18 January, officers observed a man enter McArthur's apartment with him, and decided to arrest McArthur. Although the man turned out to have been about to participate in consensual BDSM with him, more images of dead bodies were found on McArthur's hard drive, allowing police to charge him with the murders of Salim Esen and Andrew Kinsman.
Upon further investigation, police found that not all the bodies in the photos were of Kinsman and Esen, and began to trace McArthur's activities as a landscaper. An investigation found the remains of eight men, including Kinsman, Esen, Skandaraj Navaratnam, Abdulbasir Faizi and Majeed Kayhan, buried on properties all around Toronto. McArthur was able to do this via access to the properties due to his landscaping job. It is believed that McArthur killed much more than eight men, but this has never been proved.
On 29 January 2019, McArthur pleaded guilty to eight counts of murder. On 8 February, he was sentenced to life imprisonment. Parole is available in 25 years, but due to his advanced age McArthur is unlikely to live that long.