Crime Stories with Nancy Grace - 'Dentist to the Stars' strangles mom dead? Serial killer copycats Stephen King horror story?

Episode Date: February 28, 2018

Instead of working on celebrity smiles, Los Angeles dentist Daniel Yocobi is sitting in jail on a charge of murdering his wealthy mom for her insurance money. Nancy Grace explores the murder of Violet Yocobi, the grandmother found strangled to death in her Beverly Hills mansion. forensic psychiatrist Dr. Daniel Bober, defense lawyer Troy Slaten, forensics expert Karen Smith, and reporter Pamela Furr join Grace. Bruce McArthur was known by his landscaping clients as a thoughtful man, but investigators say he killed at least 6 men and hid body parts in planters scattered across Toronto. It's a case compared to a Stephen King mystery. Nancy Grace digs into it with lawyer & psychologist Dr. Brian Russell, death scene investigator Joseph Scott Morgan, medical examiner Dr. William Morrone, and reporter John Lemley. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an iHeart Podcast. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace on Sirius XM Triumph, Channel 132. Let me juxtapose two images in your mind one of a grandmother in her home kept pristinely everything in place being attacked and strangled dead now imagine this you know that moment when they're putting a needle in your mouth and they're novocaine you for some procedure or they put a little gas mask on you and you pass out and you wake up and all the dental surgery is done? Well, imagining that guy hovering around you with the needle in his hand, the dentist, just gets charged for murder. Now, what do those two things have to do with each other? I'm Nancy Grace. This is Crime Stories. Thank you for being with us. A 67-year-old grandmother is found dead in her own home, a very beautiful mansion in Beverly Hills.

And now, out of the blue, the dentist to the stars, Daniel Yacobi, arrested, charged with the grandma's murder. P.S., he's also her son. To Pam Furr, Crime Stories investigative reporter, joining us, let's just start at the beginning. Why did police come to the victim's home to start with? Well, sure. The daughter and the dentist, brother and sister, had not heard from their mother. The two of them, Daniel Yacobi and the sister, go over to the home because they hadn't heard from their mother. The two of them, Daniel Yacobi and the sister, go over to the home because they hadn't heard from their mother. They kept trying to call, couldn't get in touch with her.

They go to their mother's home, Violet, and they find her there, unconscious and unresponsive. And that's when her daughter called 911. First responders arrive. She's pronounced dead right there at her home. And in fact, police say that she was probably dead 24 hours before they even arrived. And at that point, police, yeah, and then they get suspicious of the cause of death. Things did not add up. And that's when the investigation started. Well, I'm curious, Pamela Furr, Crime Stories investigative reporter,

could they not tell at the beginning that it was a manual or ligature strangulation, or was it asphyxiation, such as putting a pillow over her head? Do we know the COD, cause of death? I believe they are ruling this strangulation at this point. And so at that point, they started looking at everything in the house. And according to police, they got their electronic devices, computers, whatever evidence they found, which they have not released at this time, led them to believe that it was Daniel that actually strangled his mother. You know, let's just talk for a moment about the crime scene.

Karen Smith joining me, forensics expert. She and I have had the occasion to do several scientific experiments together. Also with me, renowned defense attorney out of the California jurisdiction, Troy Slayton. Hey, Troy, before I go to Karen Smith, if, in fact, he did it, the so-called dentist to the stars, how cool of a cucumber must he be to wait the 24 hours knowing his mother is dead? His mother, his flesh and blood is dead, murdered in her home. And he waits while everybody pretend, you know, he pretends to call her and check on her and the sister's calling and checking on mom. And then he goes with the sister over there and what? There's mommy's dead body. I'm so surprised, Troy. He's going to have to give an Academy Award winning performance then because nobody knows you

better than your mom and dad or your sister. And so he's going to have to put on a performance more than when you snuck into your parents' present supply during Christmas and had to pretend like you didn't know what you were getting that next morning. You know, it's so funny you said that, Troy, because I can look at my brother. I can look at him and tell when he's lying. Exactly. My sister, my sister never lies. OK, so I don't have to tell whether she's lying or not. My brother can totally pull one over you, but he gets this funny look and it's in the eyes.

I can't. It's the way he looks at you when he's trying to tell you a lie. And I can do the same thing with John David and Lucy. It's just a subtle thing. Now, I always tell my husband, I know he's lying because his lips are moving. That really makes him mad. But that's just a joke, okay? Because I know his sister's listening right now, and she'll totally rat me out. But the children, they just have a certain look on their face. So you're totally right, Troy Slayton. His sister was with him when they go into the home and find their mom dead.

So for him to pretend that he is surprised that he didn't know this, he would have to put on such an incredible performance that he would have to trick the person that has known him his entire life, who is able to smell BS when it's coming out of her own brother. Well, catch this. Hold on, Troy. listen to this. After his mom's death, Yacobi takes to social media, calling her, quote, an amazing mother. And truthfully saying, not a day goes by he doesn't think of her and how he killed her. Oh, wait, sorry, he didn't add that on the end. How he thinks of her every single day. And according to police, that's a pretty chilling statement because they believe firmly he is the one that murdered his own mother for money. I mean, for one thing, Troy Slayton, she had quite the crib.

It was a posh $7 million Beverly Hills mansion. I mean, Troy, that's your neck of the woods. Can you even have a home in Beverly Hills for less than a million dollars? Not really. But those would be chilling statements when he took to social media and was praising his mother. Those would be chilling unless he's innocent, unless he really did mourn her loss, unless he really is the wrong guy. Because it took allegedly a high-tech unit of the Beverly Hills Police Department and working with others to try and piece together an electronic footprint and to put together a financial motive for this crime. This may not have been him. Straight to Karen Smith. Karen Smith joining us from the Florida jurisdiction, known across the country as an

expert. And for instance, let's talk about the crime scene, Karen. What strikes you? A lot of things struck me, Nancy. As a matter of fact, when I read this, my little forensic brain spun. We're going to deal with the physical evidence first, and that's the body. You talked about strangulation. Are we dealing with a ligature? Are we dealing with manual strangulation? Was there a handprint on her neck that leads me to DNA? Not necessarily DNA from her skin, but if there was DNA under her nails from a struggle, and it comes back to Daniel Yacobi, he's going to have to explain that. You're dealing with evidence on her body like lividity. The blood pooling when blood settles after death, was she moved. That's a big indicator. He moved the body after she had passed away. And there's also something called petechiae, which is small

little blood vessels around the eye and in the sclera of the eye that burst during strangulation. Those are telltale signs for the coroner and for investigators to know that this was a wrongful death. It wasn't natural. You've got the scene. It's a mansion. It's a $7 million mansion. I'm assuming there's an alarm system. Was it disabled? Did somebody have the code? Was it reset at some point? Who has the code and who turned it off and when? Were there signs of forced entry? If not, that's a huge clue for investigators. You're talking with digital evidence, computer searches. Was he dumb enough to search for strangulation or asphyxiation? Did he go in and do something as innocuous as looking at the value of the home? And that leads

to the financial motivation. Was the will changed? Who gets what? Did he have money problems? Was there an insurance policy? And basically what it all comes down to is if there was no sign of force entry, and if there's no signs of theft or burglary, and if there's no struggle, we're left with someone with limited motivation, somebody that she either allowed in the house or somebody who knew the alarm code, knew her habits, and knew their way around the house. So that limits my suspect pool right there. Well, we do know from Lieutenant Elizabeth Albanese that the crime was committed with a motivation of financial gain. The crime was committed with the motivation of financial gain, and certainly that's very disturbing in this situation.

A homicide investigation was initiated that same night. And as they began to work through their investigation and talk to witnesses and uncover some evidence, that's what led them to believe that her son was in fact the suspect in the homicide. Because there was a life insurance policy and i would bet if i were a betting woman that it was made out to beneficiaries son and daughter much less the multi-million dollar mansion set on invaluable land in the middle of beverly. He was leading a double life, if these claims are true. Take a listen to his ad. Take a listen to his ad.

Alan Duke, what is it that he calls it about his smile factory? What does he say? His dental offices are smile centers. Smile centers. Okay. All right. Listen to this. Northridge Smile Center is located on Reseda Boulevard in the heart of downtown Northridge in the San Fernando Valley. The

various procedures we offer at our offices include zoom whitening, Invisalign, clear correct. We do all types of veneers from Da Vinci to Lumineers. We're all about the people. We're all about building relationships and building a foundation of better health for all of our clients and all of our patients. That was the suspect, the, quote, loving son, Daniel Yacobi, as he touts his, quote, smile center. This is another quote from him. Mom, I love you and miss you no words can express what you mean to me every single dollar troy slayton every single dollar troy unless he didn't do it oh dear lord in heaven Just because somebody is going to benefit financially, which naturally happens to children of people that have money, they leave their money to their children. That doesn't mean that their children killed them in order to get the money.

Good gravy. Jackie, have you seen this home? Have you looked at this? I think I'm pretty sure that I have walked or jogged by this before and stared, gawked, at all the beautiful, incredible. Dee, come over here and look at this home. I've got my friend Dee here with me. Dee, do they have anything like that in Birmingham? Because I know they don't make them.

I'm pretty sure. No, probably not. Wow. All right. Okay, enough staring at the home. This is what I know. Weigh in on this, Karen Smith. Detectives claim they used a high-tech crime task force to search through computers, electronic devices,

and that it is there they found clues that led police to believe the son is the killer. I mean, doesn't he have enough money in his smile factory? You would think so. And they're going to do a deep dive into digital evidence. They're going to need a warrant. So obviously they had some kind of probable cause to lead them to obtain that warrant and do this digital evidence search on all of his devices. So I don't know what that would be and what would give them the PC to do that.

But obviously they had it. So I'm really curious to find out what they found. I have a good idea. But I have an idea to see how it plays out. You know, another thing I'm looking at is the possibility at this mansion, and it truly is a mansion, if they have surveillance video. Was he spotted on surveillance video? Was the alarm, like when you go in a home? For all of you listening, don't put your alarm keypad in an obvious place like right inside the door.

Put it somewhere else where somebody coming in doesn't have immediate access to it. Anyway, was he keyed in or did she expect him to be coming and she turned the alarm off? When you say you think you know what the forensic evidence is based on the computer and electronic searches, Karen, what do you mean by that? Well, to me, if we're looking at a financial gain, which is what they've said, you're going to be looking at, you know, wills. Did he do searches for that? Did he pull it up? Did he alter it? Did he go in and look for home values? Did he look at searches for, God forbid, strangulation, asphyxiation, things like that? What was he doing in financial records? If that's the motivation, that's where they're going to

focus their investigation. Is his financial history, is he in dire straits? Does he have a need for money? What was he doing looking at these financial records or going in and looking in the computer to lead them to this financial gain motivation? Let me just pause as we discuss a 67-year-old grandmother found dead in her own home, and now the dentist to the stars, Daniel Yacobi, her son, arrested, charged with murder. I want to thank our sponsor making this and all our investigations possible at SiriusXM 132. It's LegalZoom. You all know small business is a hot topic this year. National Small Business Month at Legal

Zoom is perfect timing. Whether you're just starting out or already have a business, headline 2018 has incredible opportunities because of new tax laws, including the biggest changes for business owners in the last 30 years. LegalZoom helps you understand what that means for you. LegalZoom, not a law firm. They are a nationwide network of independent lawyers and tax professionals. They answer your questions. They get you on the right track. And they tap into resources starting 16 years ago, giving business

owners the tools to start and run their business the right way every day. Over the next weeks, find out how LegalZoom can help you during National Small Business Month. Don't miss it. Check out LegalZoom.com today. Special savings when you enter code Nancy, N-A-N-C-Y in the referral box at checkout. LegalZoom, where life meets legal. LegalZoom.com, thank you for being our sponsor and our partner today on SiriusXM 132. You know, let's just talk for a moment about the dentist to the stars, Daniel Yacobi. Arrested. Charged. He is the one that murdered his own mother.

This is another aspect to his personality. I don't know if it's probative. In other words, proves anything at trial, but Alan Duke, everybody out in Beverly Hills, you know, from the waitress at the burger place to the gas station, everybody is pushing a script or a, quote, project. I mean, everybody from the' playground, you name it. I learned that when I was out there living for Dancing with the Stars. He refers to himself as Dentist to the Stars, Alan, and prior to his arrest for murder, he was a high-profile dentist to the stars and has posted photos of himself.

Here he is on his own website. Here's one with the star of Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, Alfonso Ribeiro. But you know what? This is woefully out of date. Everybody knows, or at least if you have 10-year-old twins, that this guy also was the host or is the host of America's Funniest Videos after Tom Bergeron left. Okay.

So he is posting photos of himself with various stars calling himself dentist to the stars. They don't call him that. He calls himself that. Look, if you're Troy Slayton's dentist, you're a dentist to a star. Quit sucking up to Slayton. Save it. Save it.

Troy, you know what? Okay, I'm going to leave Alan Du in the sucking up in that corridor and go to Troy Slayton. Troy, what do you do with a client that posts one selfie after the next of himself with stars? Well, if I represent somebody, I ask them to take down immediately any type of social media at all. I don't want, and that's whether before they're arrested or after they're arrested, I don't want savvy prosecutors like yourself to be able to pick and choose things from their social media

footprint, from their history, and use that as people's exhibit one in court to paint a picture that may not be accurate, that may not have anything to do with the case at hand. You know, I'm looking at his mother, Jackie, look at her. She's very attractive. She kind of looked in a way she looks to me like Sally Fields, but with lighter hair. She's very young looking to be a grandma. And she's got a little teacup puppy with her. And if that's her home on the inside it's pretty swank this is what i know her own son now charged in his mother's strangulation uh pamela fur was right it's strangulation not asphyxiation which means he had to either do it

manually with his own hands or by ligature which is is with a rope or a stocking, strangle the life out of his own mother. Pamela Furr, investigative reporter for Crime Stories, what more do we know now? We know at this point that he is being held without bond. He has pleaded not guilty. He has a defense attorney, Trent Copeland, who has said to the press, no one is perfect. No investigation is perfect. I'm quoting. I hope to prove that my client is innocent. And I hope to also prove this investigation was somehow flawed. Okay, listen to this. No one's perfect.

No investigation is perfect. And I hope to prove that my client's innocent. And I hope to also prove that this investigation was somehow flawed. Because clearly, our view is that this is not the right person. Again, that's Trent Copeland, his defense attorney. And he is expected to be back in court, Daniel Yacobi, on March 19th for a preliminary hearing. Well, we do know this, Troy Slayton. They're charging him with one count of murder with special circumstances.

You know what that means? Special circumstances means the death penalty here in California. They would need to prove that he had something other than just the murder, that he was lying in wait, that there was a lot of premeditation and planning. Financial gain. Financial gain could also be a special circumstance. Yes, Nancy. And you know, Troy, explain to the listeners right here on SiriusXM 132 why financial gain is a motive, is deemed a special circumstance.

There are a lot of murders, okay? I don't even know how many murders, homicides I investigated and tried. But there are certain categories called aggravating circumstances or special circumstances, as it's called in California, which mean when the DA puts that onto a murder charge, you're looking at the death penalty. Why is financial gain considered so, so different from, say, heat of passion? Not every murder is the same. And we don't seek to impose the death penalty every time there's a murder. So there are special classes of murders that we as a society look at as particularly heinous. against law enforcement officers when there is somebody who is planning and plotting the murder or doing it in order to take a life for financial gain, to take a life for money,

that's particularly heinous and makes a person potentially eligible for the death penalty. Well, I believe the reason that financial gain is considered a special circumstance that is death penalty eligible is because it's cold and calculated and you place money over human life. That's a lot different than getting into a fight in a bar and pulling a gun and shooting it. Yes, that's murder too. But this financial gain is clearly thought out ahead of time. And a human life, your own mother's life, means less to you than the value of her home. Right now, he is behind bars and presumed innocent until proven guilty.

A brutal serial killer. There's no doubt about the fact that he'd done the deed. But was his inspiration from a Stephen King story? Whoa. I'm Nancy Grace. This is Crime Stories. Thank you for being with us. Police say a landscape gardener, a lawn man, is accused of murdering at least five men, at least five, then scattering their remains across 30 different properties.

And they are saying his MO, his modus operandi, his method of operation, is eerily, eerily similar to that of Stephen King's lawnmower man. You know, Stephen King lives in a world of horror, all his own, built by his own construction. He may have been considered to be curious in nature. Let's just say eclectic, eccentric, unique would be a good way to describe him. His books have turned into movies. He's wildly successful. But at this hour, he's making the headlines in an entirely different way as the perceived inspiration for a real life serial killer.

Joining me right now, Crime Stories investigative reporter John Limley. John, what do we know? Nancy, investigators began digging quite literally on January 18th. Wait, stop right there. John Limley, whoever said you did not have a sense of humor. Okay. Whoever said that me takes it all back. Okay. Start over. He started digging. And I noticed the way you emphasized digging. Okay, go ahead. Yeah, my theater background is shining through. These investigators really did begin not only investigating, but actually digging on January 18th in a neighborhood that's right next to Toronto's big cemetery, Mount Pleasant. Police knocked on the door of 53 Mallory Crescent. It's a sprawling home owned by Karen Frazier and her husband, Ron Smith. 53 Mallory Crescent? Yes. Justice Scott Morgan, death scene investigator, that sounds like it's out of a book. 53 Mallory Crescent. That doesn't even sound real. Is that just me from reading too many crime stories?

Yeah. It sounds completely made up. It does have a rather gothic tilt to it, I'd have to say. Well, I didn't think gothic. Dr. Brian Russell, I thought it sounded like, you know, I would get that address in a little hamlet, a little village somewhere outside of London. 53 Mallory Crescent. Of course, Morgan thinks it's like foreboding and evil.

But to me, it sounds like it's out of an Agatha Christie novel. Yeah, I suppose. That had not struck me as being that unusual. Wait a minute. Aren't you the lawyer and psychologist? Aren't you supposed to pick things up? Have you ever seen Psych? Yes.

That's how I imagine you know, because 53. You know what? Never mind. Back to you, John Limley, Crime Stories investigative reporter. Since the men are not as sensitive and as intuitive as some people may are, we will go forward. Go ahead, John Limley. So they knock on the door. What happens?

Right. Officers show this startled elderly couple a search warrant and give them 20 minutes to vacate the property so they can begin what emerged as quite a grisly task. Moments later, several white police fans pull up, crowd the street. Officers begin to sift through the contents of the couple's garage that's stuffed with tools and planters and bags of soil. A few days later, neighbors say investigators erect a huge tent in the backyard and begin to use a huge generator to thaw the frozen ground in preparation for excavation. Nearly two weeks after they began digging up the backyard at Mallory Crescent, the discovery of human remains absolutely sets panic in a city known for its quiet, leafy neighborhoods and a relatively low crime rate. The city had a serial killer on its hands. His name is Bruce MacArthur, a landscaper and, shockingly,

had just wrapped up a part-time stint playing Santa Claus during the holiday season. Oh, man, you always have the one little twist fact that just sends me over the edge, John Limley. John Limley joining me, Crime Stories investigative reporter. So they dig up one body. I can just imagine this little couple with me. Also, Jackie Howard and Alan Duke, Dr. Brian Russell, lawyer and psychologist, host of the hit investigation discovery series Fatal Vows. Joseph Scott Morgan, death scene investigator, forensics expert and professor of forensics at Jacksonville State University. Alan Duke. All right. I know you're not a crime scene expert, but you do watch a lot of movies.

And one of us, me, reads a lot of books. This sounds straight out of a movie set when you knock on the door and a little old couple answer, minding their own business. And suddenly they're like, get on the street. We're executing a search warrant. You got 20 minutes. Whoa. And then to their mortification, find a dead body in the backyard. Oh, gosh.

It gets even worse than that. And I'm just fascinated listening to the screenwriter, John Limley, tell this story. I mean, that's what he should be doing, not journalism. This is, okay, you know what, Alan? Thank you for the career advice. Isn't it true, John Limley, that this couple had allowed the suspect to store equipment in a shed in exchange for free lawn care? That would be how they would be linked to this guy? Correct, Nancy.

For about 10 years, they had known MacArthur had allowed him to keep quite a number of his tools, even some small plants and pots and such. They're in their garage. So a fictional horror story is playing out for real when police hone in on a guy they believe has slaughtered at least five men and hiding their dismembered body parts in gardens all across the city. Interesting, John Limley, he apparently buried this guy's body parts in this elderly couple's backyard in their garden, the same garden that he had been working on. What about the other four alleged victims? Were they also dismembered? And where were they found? Or have they been found?

Well, right now, the police are looking on matching up remains that they've found with some men who have been missing in some cases for several years now. So the key is they have bodies, they have names. And for at least three of those, it's going to take some more research and testing to put those names and bodies together. I'm going to get to you on that, Joseph Scott Morgan, death scene investigator. But to Dr. Brian Russell, lawyer and psychologist, host of Fatal Vows on ID. This landscaper, Bruce MacArthur, is now suspected in five different murders, at least. They, police say, discovered a number of hacked up corpses hidden in large planters across the city. Now, what's crazier, Dr. Bryan, the murders resemble almost to the T the plot in Lawnmower Man. Now, that was a short story

by horror writer Stephen King that centers around a sex crazy landscaper who murders the suburban owner who had hired him and it goes from there that that story only ends when police discovered those victims dead bodies hidden under the backyard birdbath and then strewn and hidden across a manicured lawn under, you know, the grass, but in different parts. And now police are on a real life scavenger hunt for bodies. Dr. Brian Russell, you're the shrink. Help me out. You know, when I look at this case, Nancy, it seems more to me like, you know, as we've seen with many of these killers, it's a convenience thing. It's a, you know, what can I do that to conceal the evidence of my crimes that is available to me easily? And so for him as a landscaper, concealing the bodies in the landscaping was the easy thing.

You know, it's like kind of the storyline of Sweeney Todd, you know, that the horrifying storyline of, you remember, Sweeney Todd was the guy whose wife had the bakery and he was the barber and he would kill, demon barber of Fleet Street, and he would kill people and then the wife would bake them into the pies. It's like that. Okay, Dr. Bryan, I appreciate your flair for the theatric. But can we talk about reality just a moment? Let me just rein in the wild imaginations of these men, Jackie. They're all going hysterical. I'm so happy I got to say some men were hysterical, because it's always women that are allegedly hysterical. Oh, now I hear some maniacal laughing on the other end. Okay, but let's get away from Broadway and scripts and talk about reality. Dr. Brian Russell, what I would like to point out

in the real world is that killers often do the deed and dispose of the body where they are comfortable. For instance, Scott Peterson, fisherman, he dumped Lacey and Connor's dead bodies in San Francisco Bay. Other people, they're hunters. They hide the bodies out in the woods or hikers. In this case, this guy is a lawn expert so all across the city police now believe bruce mcarthur has hacked up bodies and hidden them in lawns where he worked forget about sweetie todd he's not even real okay guys help me out here is that not exactly what i just said it's it's a convenience thing. They put the bodies where it's easy for them to put them in and where they know about. And this is a landscaper and where he's got easy access,

what he knows about is putting them in the landscape. Yeah, yeah. Just got Morgan. Now I'm on Russell's wavelength because I really believe people stay in their habits. We are creatures of habits. Even though you may be off the chart as a serial killer or some other extreme, still we are humans. And this was his habit. He knew these lawns. He knew how they were landscaped. He knew where a body literally would never be found, much less a part of a body.

Isn't that true? You're the death scene investigator. You know, that sounds like an interesting statistical study that should be commissioned as to the disposal of human bodies once murdered. Yeah, I'd agree, Nancy. Let me throw another number out to you here that's kind of mind-boggling. It's number 30. That's how many clients this guy had, the accused.

30 clients dispersed over this area. Now, even though geographically in this area they might be very diverse neighborhoods, say, for instance, it is the environment in which he indwelled, where he cut grass, he did lawn work and that sort of thing. So the police, from an investigative standpoint, have a real job on their hands, don't they? Because 30 different clients that this guy had, and I'd like to see kind of how this pattern looks on a map, which is one of the things we do in serial investigations. See where this pattern is, how far out it expands. Some of the things that the police and crime scene technologists and forensic science are looking for, they're going to mark this and tie this back to this guy, are the instrumentalities of death. That is, how were these individuals killed?

And we're hearing a lot about how the bodies were essentially dismembered. And with most of these people that dismember bodies, they have a specific methodology. This is done on a learning curve, Nancy. You have to understand this is not something that you just automatically pick up. So in the earlier cases, unless he's been doing this for a long, long time, which may very well be the case, there In this particular case, he's going to what he knows. He's a landscaper. He knows how to use garden tools. He knows how to obscure things, how to essentially landscape things out of the field of vision.

And this is going to be key. Another curious thing about this, Nancy, is I've, buried in the yard and that sort of thing. But also this guy put body parts in planters, which gives me an indication that he, you know, he either thought that he was going to do their yards forever and ever, or he really didn't care that he was going to get caught. I do gardening, you know, I changed the dirt out in my planters, you know, yearly. So, you know, it's... Wait a minute. Wait a minute. You have time to go out there and throw out the old dirt and put in the new dirt. Haven't you ever heard of planting those things that just re-bloom over and over? Like they're like green. They don't necessarily have flowers. That's no fun. I got to get into the therapy.

I got to get into the therapy. All right. Keep going. So, you know, you've got body parts that are buried in planters and these things have to be maintenanced. And so the idea is that someone at some point in time is going to come down the pike here and take that out and find something. It's not like a guy goes and chops up a body and throws it into a swamp or, you know, even buries it in concrete footers in a big building that's being poured.

This is kind of curious to me. You know, here's how it all broke open. Right now, over 30 properties where MacArthur worked as a landscape artist are being inspected by police, including a, quote, extensive investigation at one residence where he used a garage to store equipment and flower pots. The digging first started January 18, the same day Bruce MacArthur was booked. Police issued a search warrant to those homeowners, Karen Frazier and husband Ron Smith,

who allowed their, quote, helpful neighbor to store landscaping tools on their property. Amazing the way this whole thing has unfolded. And my guess is there's going to be more. One other thing about this case that I'm finding quite interesting is that several of the people that have been targeted out of this group of six are of Mid-Eastern origin. And I think that that's kind of an interesting little aside there. Not all of them, but a significant number of these gentlemen were from the Mid-East. Majid Kayyam, Salem Eason, Sroosh Marmoody, Andrew Kinsman, Dean Lissawick. Those are some of the names we believe are his dead victims. Are there going to be more? Yeah, Nancy, I got to tell you, with this case, one of the things, and this all goes to

what we look for in forensics, kind of our meat and potatoes, is we're trying to find connectivity through patterns. And right now, what we do know is that we've got several gay men that have vanished, obviously, out of the Torontoonto gay village as their term in it and one of the interesting things though is that one of these gentlemen who was a local activist in the gay community was not like these other individuals that were targeted this fellow was an activist very vocal and according to his friends, he was very, very protective. He – and kind of had a rough side to him. He – I don't – you kind of get the impression from what I'm hearing that this fellow didn't abide fools. So this was obviously a mistake, I think, that was made by the perpetrator in this case.

And he's left behind a specific signature. According to his clients, the landscaper, Bruce MacArthur, quote, he went above and beyond what our original agreement was to cut the grass. There's a beautiful Christmas arrangement that just showed up a week before Christmas made by him. You have to understand he's so kind, helpful. He helped with our charity work, doing floral gifts for silent auctions. Well, hello, he's a serial killer. How can there be two diametrically opposed personalities in one body, Dr. Brian Russell? I don't know if you have ever heard of a serial killer named David Most, but this guy reminds me of Most in this way. Most, by the way, committed suicide in prison. And before he committed

suicide, he wrote a memoir where he talked about what he was thinking when he did his killings. And I received part of that memoir from a distant relative of his and had a chance to read it. And it was fascinating because Most had, he was very conflicted about his sexuality. You know, Dr. Brian Russell is everything about sex with you. No. You and Dr. Bethany Marshall, have you ever seen a crime that was not sadomasochistic ever? I take that silence as a no. he would become conflicted about whether it was wrong or not. And he would get angry at the men as if they had, you know, somehow caused him to do something wrong. And then he would sort of, he would get homicidal and he would kill them. And then he would find himself needing to dispose

of the bodies rapidly. And so it's like Joseph Morgan said, it's it's you know, the ways in which he disposed of these bodies were not necessarily, you know, brilliant because they were he put them in places that eventually some of them at least were likely to be found, which suggests to me that perhaps there was a similar process going on where he would he would do something in sort of a sexually charged rage. Can I tell you what he said online? You know, he's on multiple, multiple dating websites. One quote, this is the alert serial killer. I can be a bit shy until I get to know you, but I'm a romantic at heart. I love to cook and enjoy most types of food. Okay. You know, when I put heart in the same sentence as his name, I think of him carving your heart out. Well, right now, this is what we know. Five people dead, so far,

hacked into pieces, their bodies buried across a huge city in the backyards and on the grounds of his lawn care clients. We are waiting for the very latest as we dread hearing there are more victims of Bruce MacArthur. Nancy Grace, Crime Story, signing off. Goodbye, friend.