Killer Stories with Harvey Guillén - "Mall Santa" Bruce McArthur Pt. 1

Episode Date: May 24, 2021

For most of his life, Bruce McArthur led an unremarkable existence. But in the 1990s, he split from his wife and moved to Toronto's gay village — free to be his true self. Unfortunately, McArthur's true self was violent, bloodthirsty... and murderous. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Due to the graphic nature of this killer's crimes, listener discretion is advised. This episode includes discussions of murder and assault that some people may find offensive. We advise extreme caution for children under 13. In September of 2010, Bruce MacArthur was hard at work, digging in the backyard of a client's home. It wasn't easy. The stone planters were enormous, and at 58, MacArthur definitely moved a little slower than he used to. MacArthur had run his own successful landscaping business for a number of years now, and had a reputation for creating beautiful outdoor spaces featuring gorgeous succulents and tropical plants. His wealthy clients talked, and word of mouth usually brought him steady work.

But MacArthur didn't want anyone to talk about this particular project. He didn't even want them to see what he was planting in the soil. That's why he was there in the middle of the night. As he paused to wipe the sweat from his brow, MacArthur noticed something glinting in the dirt. It was a silver bracelet. He considered the trinket for a moment, then decided that he wanted it for himself,

something to remember this night by. He bent down and pulled the bracelet from its dismembered wrist. Then he tossed the bloody arm back in the planter and kept shoveling. He didn't have time for any more sentimentality. There was still more work to be done. before the sun came up. Hi, I'm Greg Paulson. This is serial killers,

a Spotify original from Parkast. Every episode, we dive into the minds and madness of serial killers. Today, we're delving into the killing spree of Bruce McArthur, the most prolific serial killer in Toronto's history. I'm here with my co-host, Vanessa Richardson. Hi, everyone. You can find episodes of serial killers and all other Spotify originals from Parcast for free on Spotify, or wherever you're a show.

you listen to podcasts. Today, we'll take a look at MacArthur's quaint pastoral childhood, his unremarkable adult life, and how he descended into murder. Next time, we'll cover MacArthur's killing spree and explore how targeting vulnerable groups allowed him to evade detection for years. We've got all that and more coming up. Stay with us. This episode is brought to you by ZipRecruiter, whether you're hiring for a role or searching for a killer. The hunt can be exhausting. When detectives looked and searched to find any kind of evidence to find the person they were looking for, like Jack the Ripper, the Golden State Killer, the Unit Bomber. It's tedious work to find what you're looking for. So if you're hiring, I've got news for you. You can skip the

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That's ziprecruiter.com slash killers. Meet your match on ZipRecruiter. This episode is brought to you by Shopify. Bonnie and Clyde, the lonely hearts killers, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. These are infamous criminal duels. But you don't need to break any laws to find your perfect business partner

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That inspirational phrase is a classic for a reason. It's an important reminder that no matter how old you are, you're the one who gets to write your story and decide where it ends. It's never too late to fall in love. love, to pursue a new career, to live the life you always wanted. In fact, being a late bloomer can be an asset. With a few decades of life experience under your belt, you're more likely to know exactly what you want. Bruce MacArthur was a late bloomer in many respects. He spent much of his adult life repressing who he really was before finally coming out as gay in his 40s. On its surface, this sounds like a powerful and uplifting story of late-in-life liberation.

Unfortunately, MacArthur's sexuality wasn't all he was hiding. Though friends and neighbors knew him as an affable Father Christmas-like figure, MacArthur was carrying around a deep-seated and vicious rage that finally erupted later in life. As MacArthur's horrifying story shows us, it's never too late to become a serial killer. Long before he unveiled his true self, Bruce MacArthur was born in the rural, Ontario town of Lindsay in 1951. His parents were well respected in their quiet pastoral community, but behind closed doors, tensions ran high. Both of MacArthur's parents were deeply religious, but had different faiths. His mother, Ila, was an Irish Catholic, while his father, Mack,

was Scottish Presbyterian, and the schism caused regular arguments. MacArthur was reportedly close to his mother, and often sided with her in these fights. As a result, his father was tough on him, and sometimes verbally abusive. But the father-son tension may have been caused by more than religion. In later years, MacArthur suggested that his father was tough on him because he sensed something in his son, a, quote, lack of masculinity. It's not clear how old MacArthur was when he began to question his sexuality, but even if he knew he was gay by the time he was a teenager,

coming out wasn't an appealing option. Unsurprisingly, attitudes in 1960s rural Ontario weren't progressive, and his deeply religious parents were likely no exception. If MacArthur's father made him feel ashamed for his so-called lack of masculinity, this likely had a profound impact on his self-image. Vanessa is going to take over in the psychology here and throughout the episode. Please note, Vanessa is not a licensed psychologist or psychiatrist, but she has done a lot of research for this show.

Thanks, Greg. In a 2020 paper in the Journal of the Canadian Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Professor Nurai Conber explores some of the ways internalized homophobia can develop in adolescence. According to Dr. Conber, feeling shamed or rejected by parents because of sexual orientation can create a feeling of intense self-loathing in teenagers. Conber writes, Negative feelings about self-sexual identity can be internalized and result in shame, denial, self-harm, or hatred. She points out that these negative feelings can cause queer people to abuse other members of the queer community.

Conber also finds that emotional immaturity in adolescence can lead to self-hatred and anger as a coping mechanism, to deal with feelings of rejection and isolation. Dr. Comber also notes that if a young person isn't able to develop a healthy coping strategy to deal with shame or ostracization, they can develop a sense of self-loathing. Eventually, this can lead to damaging forms of internalized homophobia, such as living a heterosexual life, marrying an opposite-sex partner, and even protesting against LGBT rights. We don't know exactly what happened between MacArthur and his father,

but MacArthur likely grew up feeling that his true self was to be hidden at all costs. After all, the MacArthur's had a reputation to uphold. They were considered a family of good pedigree, so much so, in fact, that parents in Toronto often sent their troubled children to stay at the MacArthur's house. The idea was that time away from the hustle and bustle of city life could be beneficial to wayward youths. As guests, the children were expected to help out around the city's.

the farm and do manual labor in exchange for their room and board. As a result, MacArthur grew up with a revolving door of temporary foster brothers and sisters. A friend of the family, Marianne McCackern, recalled, there were always kids coming and going. Lots of times there would be maybe six to ten. Growing up in a household where other parents sent their kids for reform, it's no surprise that young Bruce was a disciplined boy. As the MacArthur's own son, he had to set an example. He helped out around the farm, did well in school, and even won singing competitions.

Ron McKeckern, who attended the same one-room schoolhouse as MacArthur, recalled that the MacArthur boy was a stickler for the rules, even to the point of alienating his fellow students. In other words, MacArthur was seen as a tattletale. McCackern recalled he was always sucking up to the teacher. If we got into trouble, he'd run in and squeal on us. He just wasn't like the rest of the boys. Soon enough, MacArthur.

moved on to a larger school, where he stood out less. Beginning in ninth grade, he was bust into the nearby village of Fenelan Falls to attend high school. MacArthur was an ambitious and opinionated teenager. His yearbook entry lists his favorite pastime as a good argument. His ambition was to be successful. And what did his probable future hold? MacArthur wrote, Your guess is as good as mine. But however uncertain MacArthur's future felt, he knew he didn't want to go alone. During high school, he began dating a fellow student, Janice Campbell. It's possible that MacArthur considered himself bisexual and wasn't consciously denying his sexuality by dating Janice, but it's also possible this was internalized homophobia at work.

MacArthur was desperate to live up to his father's standards of masculinity, and that included dating girls. Whatever McArthur's motivations, he and Janice were inseparable. By their senior year they were going steady and making plans to move in together when they both graduated. Rural Ontario offered limited prospects for a young couple, and MacArthur was hungry for success. So after high school, they moved to the city of Oshawa, about 40 miles east of Toronto. A couple years later, Bruce reportedly began working at Eaton's, a large Canadian department store. In 1974, when Bruce was 23, he and Janice married. A picture-perfect suburb.

Bourbon life beckoned. MacArthur had steady income, an active role in his local church, a loving wife, and soon two children who he doted on. It was the definition of a life his parents would approve of. Still, MacArthur must have known that he was living a lie. In later years, he described how his participation in the church helped to avoid dealing with his feelings of guilt for being gay. After a few years, MacArthur left his job at Eaton's. It's not clear whether he left by choice or was let go, but he soon got a new position as a traveling salesman for a sock company and began spending long stints on the road alone.

Perhaps MacArthur consciously chose a position that allowed him to move around more, delivering a freedom that his life otherwise lacked. Then again, maybe being constantly on the move just made it easier to keep his mind off his unexplored desires. In any case, he soon had more pressing problems, to deal with. In 1978, when MacArthur was 27, his mother was diagnosed with terminal cancer. She died soon after, when she was just 49 years old.

Just a couple of years later, MacArthur's father died of a brain tumor. Before the age of 30, MacArthur had lost both his parents. Since his father's disapproval seems to have been a major reason why MacArthur stayed in the closet, you might assume he'd be liberated by his death, but in fact he spent his 30s doubling down on his life with Janice. In 1986, he bought a red brick house on a corner lot for his growing family. Eventually, however, the facade started to slip. As he spent long days crisscrossing towns in northern Ontario, MacArthur had plenty of time to think, and plenty of opportunities to finally indulge the longing he had tried so hard to repress.

Sometime in the early 1990s, when MacArthur was around 40, he started cheating. on Janus with men. It's not clear exactly where he met these men, but it's likely the encounters happen while he was on the road for work, and he clearly couldn't bring himself to keep the secret from his wife for long. After a year and a half,

he confessed to Janice that he had been unfaithful and came out to her. But their marriage didn't end. In fact, the couple continued living together for several years, perhaps for the sake of their children. Finally, in the late 1990s, the couple separated.

MacArthur moved out of the family home and moved to Toronto where there was a thriving gay scene. He moved right into the heart of the action in the church and Wellesley neighborhood, colloquially known as Toronto's gay village. Though it comprises just a few city blocks, the district has an outsized significance

to the LGBTQIA-plus community across the nation. In the early 1980s, Canada's gay rights movement was spurred by police raids on bars and bathhouses in the village. Decades on, the area had become a cornucopia of pride flags, rainbow crosswalks, and shimmering disco balls, and also a refuge for LGBTIQIA plus people to mingle, work, and fall in love.

It was the perfect setting for MacArthur, now in his mid-40s, to finally live his truth and connect with this new community. Around the time MacArthur moved to Toronto, he met Scandaraj Navarotnam, a 29-year-old transplant from Sri Lanka. Navarotnam had come to Canada as a refugee and settled in the village, where he was known as a vibrant, charismatic, social butterfly. Scandaraj and MacArthur made an odd pair. Scandaraj was tall, lanky, and gregarious,

while MacArthur was stocky and quiet. But Scandaraj was into older men, and there was an attraction between them. The romantic timeline here gets a little fuzzy. but it seems MacArthur and Scandaraj may have been just friends at this point because MacArthur reportedly had a boyfriend. There's not much on record about that relationship, but MacArthur apparently started seeing his boyfriend within months of moving to Toronto.

It must have felt like a huge moment, a new start after years in the closet. But the relationship didn't work out. Things ended after a few years because MacArthur's boyfriend wasn't ready to commit. MacArthur had trouble coping with the breakup. He felt lost, back to square one. And it wasn't just his personal life that was in trouble. MacArthur had also lost his longtime position as a salesman for the McGregor Sox Company. With no income, his outlook was bleak.

And in 1999, he and his then wife declared bankruptcy. Now, almost 50, MacArthur was single, broke, and untethered from everything he had ever known. And that feeling of alienation soon twisted itself into something much more sinister. Coming up, Bruce MacArthur's long repressed desires spur him into violence. The internet. What would we do without it? So much information, so little time. And yet, with all the answers available online, there still lies scores of deep, dark, spooky secrets. Mysteries yet to be solved. Until now,

This isn't clickbait. This is our exclusive new podcast, Internet Urban Legends. I'm Lowy, your evidence expert. And I'm Eleanor, the self-proclaimed skeptic. Together were the gruesome-to-sum, sleuths in search of the weirdest stories on the web. Every Tuesday, we investigate the Internet's creepiest conundrums, covering each conspiracy theory and combing through every clue

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So won't you join us? Follow our new Spotify original from Parkast, Internet Urban Legends. free and exclusively on Spotify. This episode is brought to you by Prime. Obsession is in session. And this summer, Prime Originals have everything you want. Steamy romances, irresistible love stories, and the book to screen favorites you've already read twice.

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He'd left his wife and children and moved to Toronto, hoping to finally live the life he'd always wanted. But a few years on, he was broke, and on the brink of something terrible. Walking the streets of Toronto that morning in a funk, MacArthur noticed a young man named Mark Henderson entering an apartment building. Some accounts state that MacArthur and Mark knew each other,

while others suggest they were strangers. Mark did work a number of jobs. He was a nurse, an actor, and also did some sex work. So it's possible he and MacArthur knew each other from the village. Either way, something about the younger man caught MacArthur's attention that day and not in a good way. As Mark went into his apartment building, he noticed MacArthur coming up behind him

and held the door open from him. him. McArthur didn't say thank you. Instead, he glowered at Mark. Brushing off this strange interaction, Mark headed toward his apartment door. As he put the key in the lock, he felt a sudden blinding pain in the back of his skull. McArthur had followed him to the door and struck him over the head with a steel pipe. As Mark turned to defend himself, he got a glimpse at his attacker's face, which was so twisted it barely looked human. Recalling the incident later, Mark said, Every muscle in his face was clenched,

and he had the look of a Komodo dragon. He just was a reptile. He was full of rage. Harnessing that animal ferocity, MacArthur hit Mark again and again until he was unconscious. Staring down at his victim's motionless form, it's impossible to know what MacArthur felt.

At 50, he had no known his, history of violence and had certainly never beaten anybody into unconsciousness before, but he left Mark for dead. When Mark came to, his head was pounding. He could feel blood drying in his hair and his hands were badly wounded. He called 911 and told the police what had happened. Oddly, MacArthur left Henderson's apartment building and immediately went to the police to turn himself in. As the authorities questioned him, he simply said, I don't know why I did it. MacArthur's motivations are mysterious, apparently even to him, but we're going to take a look at a few possibilities. A pre-sentencing psychiatric report suggested that MacArthur may have taken poppers that day.

This is the colloquial name for amyl nitrate, a drug that produces a feeling of euphoria and is often used as a sex aid. Poppers aren't known to cause personality changes, and they're not linked with violence, but they are renowned for lowering a person's inhibitions. It's part of why they're popular, in fact. Perhaps with his inhibitions lowered by the drug, something terrible was unleashed. At least that might have been MacArthur's theory about what happened. But eventually, the picture became more complicated. At his trial in January of 2003,

51-year-old MacArthur pleaded guilty to assault with a weapon and assault causing bodily harm. During sentencing, a psychological assessment of MacArthur was presented noting, quote, no trace of any personality disorder or anti-social behavior. In her report, Dr. Marie-France-Dionne described MacArthur as very cooperative, but also said that he might be harboring rebellious feelings that occasionally broke the surface. She concluded that, quote, McArthur's desire to maintain his surface control led him to an over-organized life

of somewhat tense and self-rigid restraint. The report also highlighted the fact that this was MacArthur's first recorded instance of violence. At 50 years old, this made him an unusual case. Most serial killers have a long history of either violent behavior, petty crime, or both, before they start killing. We don't have reliable statistics on exactly how many serial killers have no history of violence before they start killing. But anecdotally, this seems uncommon. That said, some academics have looked at instances of violence later in life. In a 2012 paper on aggressive behavior across the lifespan, three researchers at the University

of Pennsylvania noted that there's a lack of research on aggressive behavior in older adults. Most of the research that does exist has been conducted in nursing homes because of the high rates of dementia in these facilities. However, there's certainly no evidence that MacArthur had early onset dementia. His psychological assessment noted that he was well-oriented in space, time, and toward people. Interestingly, MacArthur claimed he had no memory of attacking Mark and apparently wondered if he had an epileptic seizure at the time. There's no mention of epilepsy in any reporting about MacArthur's early life.

But according to documents presented at trial, he did indeed have the condition. According to the Epilepsy Foundation, epilepsy has long been associated with aggressive behavior in the public consciousness, but there's little evidence to support this. Most people with epilepsy are no more likely than others to act aggressively, although some patients do have episodes of aggressive behavior between seizures. In a 1986 report on epilepsy and violence, researcher David M. Triman wrote about the so-called epilepsy defense in criminal cases and the long-devilis defense in criminal cases and the long-devil debate over its use. Trimann concluded that violence during a seizure is rare, and when it

does happen, it's usually the result of the patient being confused about being restrained. He writes, violence early in a seizure is extremely rare, stereotyped, and never supported by a consecutive series of purposeful movements. It's not clear whether MacArthur's doctors bought the epilepsy idea, but the psychiatric report concluded that MacArthur's risk for further violence was, very minimal. Partially on the basis of this positive assessment, McArthur was given a conditional sentence that involved a period of house arrest but no jail time. Additionally, he was barred, albeit temporarily, from the gay village as part of his sentence. While completing his term,

MacArthur kept a low profile over the next few years. He told his probation officer that his goal was to find love and settle down. But first, he was determined to reinvent himself and get his financial act together. He'd already declared bankruptcy once, and his legal fees had left him in worse shape than ever. He needed a new venture, something to occupy his mind as well as put food on the table. So in the mid-2000s, MacArthur started his own landscaping business named artistic design, and soon found enough work to make a living. He built up a client base of older, wealthy, Torontonians. His clients admired the decadence of his yard arrangements, which often use lush tropical foliage and large succulents. With his money troubles taken care of, MacArthur focused on his search

for love. He joined a number of dating sites, including one named Silver Daddies. In his profile, he wrote that he was primarily interested in younger men, adding, I can be a bit shy until I get to know you, but am a romantic at heart. But there was one particular younger man who'd already been in his life for years, a man who MacArthur had always carried a torch for, Scandaraj Navarotnam. Fairly popular in the village, Scandaraj had a wide circle of friends, who were introduced to his new boyfriend. Unfortunately, MacArthur didn't quite fit in.

Joel Walker, a friend of Scandaraj, recalled thinking that MacArthur was a little off. MacArthur never hung out at the usual village bars that Scandaraj and his friends frequent Instead, he favored a dark leather bar called The Eagle, which Joel described as a very good place to hide and be anonymous. This detail is telling. Even though MacArthur had given up his suburban family life and moved to the village, it seemed he still wasn't truly at ease with himself. The self-loathing that began in his youth still persisted. And if left to fester for too long, shame can be toxic. But not everybody considered MacArthur strange. In fact, some people who knew him at this time described him as a kindly everyman,

a portly grandfather-like figure with a love of tropical birds. He baked muffins, made floral arrangements for friends' birthdays, and helped neighbors around the house. One friend described him as, the kindest person I've ever known. Now in his late 50s, MacArthur even found a seasonal gig as a mall Santa, With his white beard and jovial demeanor, it was surely an easy higher. But beneath his benign exterior, darkness lurked.

And no matter how much MacArthur might have wanted to reinvent himself, his vicious impulses could only be contained for so long. Coming up, MacArthur's dark side makes a deadly return. Are you looking for support in your weight management journey? Zepbound terseptide may be able to help. Zepbound is a prescription medicine used with a reduced calorie diet and increased physical activity to help adults with obesity, or some adults with overweight who also have weight-related medical problems to lose excess body weight and keep the weight off. Zepbound is approved as a 2.5, 5, 7.5, 10, 12.5, or 15 milligram injection.

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Tell your doctor if you experience vision changes before sketched procedures with anesthesia if you're nursing pregnant, plan to be, or taking birth control pills. Taking Zepbound with a sulfonal urea or insulin may cause low blood sugar. Side effects include nausea, diarrhea, and vomiting, which can cause dehydration and worsen kidney problems. Talk to your doctor. Call 1-800-545-99-9 or visit zepbounds.lily.com. Now back to the story. In the summer of 2010, Bruce MacArthur sees seemingly had it all. He was running a landscaping business, and he was seeing his longtime friend, Scandaraj Navaratnam. But there was something monstrous building in MacArthur,

an irrational rage that couldn't be soothed. Seemingly at the heart of this was his insecurity. He was convinced that Scandirage was seeing other men. No matter how hard his young boyfriend tried to reassure him, MacArthur only grew more jealous and obsessive. As Scanderoge, As Scandaraj's friends saw less and less of him that summer, they began to worry. And on Labor Day weekend, their worst fears were realized. On the evening of September 6th, MacArthur and Scandaraj went out on the town together. They were last seen that night leaving Zippers, a legendary gay bar in the village. We have to speculate a little about what happened next.

But here's how the rest of the night possibly played out. After leaving Zippers, MacArthur took Scandaraj back to the last. to his apartment. They enjoyed a few drinks, maybe had sex, the kind of night they'd likely shared countless times before, but tonight something was horribly different. At some point during the night, MacArthur snapped. Maybe he'd seen Scandaraj talking to another guy at Zippers, or just thought he had. He didn't need much reason to fly into a jealous rage. And this time, it was a fury unlike any he'd held before. MacArthur was convinced that his boyfriend was cheating, and if he couldn't have him all to himself, nobody could.

So, when Scandaraj's guard was down, MacArthur murdered him. The cause of death was never confirmed, but based on what we know about MacArthur's later victims, it's possible that he strangled his lover to death. This may sound like a crime of passion committed in the heat of the moment, but based on what he did next, it seems likely that McCartner, Arthur had been planning this for some time. He drove Scandaraj's body to a house in an affluent Toronto neighborhood on a street named Mallory Crescent. MacArthur often did landscaping and gardening work at this house, and he stored equipment there.

But that night, it was the venue for a much more horrific kind of work. MacArthur dismembered his lover's body and buried the remains inside large platter pots at the back of the property. Even during this horrific process, he was composed enough to take a keepsake. Scandaraj loved fashion, and it was often draped in jewelry. Bracelets lined his wrists and a ring on nearly every finger. MacArthur wanted to keep a piece of Scandaraj with him forever, so he took a silver bracelet from the body and pocketed it, and then he went right back to his grisly chore.

This is significant. Much like the dismemberment, it feels like the action. of a much more seasoned killer. It's not uncommon for serial killers to take a keepsake or trinket to remember their victims by. Stealing not for financial gain, but to satisfy an urge. These items might be clothing, jewelry, or even body parts. FBI agent John Douglas, who played an instrumental role in the creation of the Bureau's Behavioral Science Unit, wrote about this behavior.

In his 1995 book with Mark Olshaker, Mind Hunter, Insomnia, Insomnia, the FBI's elite serial crime unit. They suggest that a killer keeps trinkets so that he can, quote, relive the thrill, continue acting out the fantasy, do it again and again. That said, it's not clear if this is what motivated MacArthur. Perhaps it was remorse that made him want to hold on to a piece of scandarge

clinging to the memory of him, or perhaps he wanted to cling to the memory of the murder itself. Within hours of MacArthur disposing of his body, Scandirage's friends were already getting worried. Scandaraj had just adopted a new puppy, and when his friends realized the dog was left alone in his apartment, they knew something was very wrong. Scandaraj's friends reported him missing, but it's not clear how far the investigation went. Since MacArthur was well known to Scandaraj's friends, and he had a history of violence, it seems strange that the police wouldn't have questioned him.

But as far as we can tell, that never happened. So MacArthur carried on with his life as if nothing had changed. In fact, it seems he wasn't at all disturbed by the experience of murdering his longtime friend and lover because within months he struck again. A few days after Christmas that year, MacArthur met up with 44-year-old Abdul Basir Faisi. The pair already knew each other, though it's unclear from where. It's possible they met on a day. dating site.

Abdul Basir had been living a double life for some time. He divided his time between the suburban home he shared with his wife and daughters and the gay village where he socialized with other men. MacArthur could surely relate to this, having walked the same tightrope himself for so many years. But he also knew that Abdul Basir's deception made him an ideal target. Since his wife and friends had no idea that he spent time in the village, there would be no trail leading back to the area. or to MacArthur.

On December 29th, Abdul Basir called his wife to tell her that he was with work colleagues and would be home late. It was the last time she ever spoke to him. Once again, we don't have firm details on exactly what happened between MacArthur and Abdul Basir. But here's a likely scenario based on the evidence. Abdul Basir made the call to his wife before heading out for drinks with MacArthur, Based on Bruce's frequent outings at local bars in the village,

the pair likely had a few rounds before MacArthur took Abdul Basir home with him. At the time, MacArthur was house-sitting for a friend who lived on Moore Avenue, a street in the desirable Moor Park neighborhood of Toronto. He brought Abdul-Basir to the house, perhaps showing off a little. Maybe he even pretended that the house was his. But when Abdul-Basier's back was turned, MacArthur struck. he overpowered Abdul Basir, perhaps striking him in the head and then strangled him to death. It's unclear whether MacArthur dismembered Abdul Basir immediately or drove him to the house on Mallory Crescent first.

But whatever the order of events, he repeated the horrifying ritual he'd established three months earlier with Scantoraj. After dismembering Abdul Basir, MacArthur hid his remains inside the large flower planters in the back of the property. The owners of the Mallory Crescent House had no awareness or involvement in his crimes, because they were away a lot. In fact, MacArthur may well have timed his murders to coincide with the nights he knew the family would be gone. But there's another pattern emerging, timing-wise. It's striking that all three of MacArthur's violent eruptions took place on holidays.

He attacked Mark on Halloween 2001, killed Scandaraj on Labor Day weekend 2010, and then killed Abdul Basir in between Christmas and New Year's of that same year. There's no objective reason why the holidays should increase someone's likelihood to commit murder. According to the National Crime Victimization Survey, robbery and larceny does increase around the holiday season, but not violent crime. Still, holidays do have a way of shining a spotlight on all the things that your life is lacking. couples heading away for a Labor Day weekend vacation, parents taking their kids trick-or-treating on Halloween,

families gathering to celebrate Christmas, these are all experiences that MacArthur likely felt cut off from. Perhaps on holidays, his self-loathing became too much to bear. Meanwhile, the Faisi family endured a nightmarish New Year's Eve. They reported Abdul Bacier missing when he failed to return home. But because he had been leading a double life, they had no way of night. knowing that he had last been seen in the gay village. They certainly didn't know he had been with MacArthur. Unfortunately, Abdul Basir's disappearance went largely unnoticed in the village, too.

Even when police found his abandoned car near the Moore Avenue House a week later, there were no clear leads. But though the police hadn't yet made the connection, there was a significant parallel between the disappearances of Scandaraj and Abdul Basir. Both men were immigrants, originally from countries where homosexuals, is criminalized. Scandirajaraj was from Sri Lanka, while Abdul Basir was from Afghanistan. It's possible that MacArthur was drawn to both men because their experience mirrored his own. He wasn't an immigrant, but he was from a background where coming out never felt like an option.

Like MacArthur, Scandaraj and Abdul Basir had both found acceptance and freedom in the village. But there's another darker interpretation that MacArthur deliberately took. targeted men from marginalized communities, perhaps because he saw them as inferior to himself. Having been a salesman for so much of his life, MacArthur was good at reading people, sniffing out their weaknesses and telling them what they wanted to hear. And after years in the village, he understood the power dynamics of the place. He knew who the easy targets were. And that made it possible for him to continue killing in plain sight for years.

Thanks again for tuning into serial killers. We'll be back soon with Part 2, where we'll explore MacArthur's killing spree and the widely criticized police investigation that eventually brought him down. For more information on Bruce MacArthur, amongst the many sources we used, we found Jacques Galant's coverage in the Toronto Star extremely helpful in our research. You can find all episodes of serial killers and all other Spotify originals from podcasts for free on Spotify. We'll see you next time. Killer Week.

Serial Killers is a Spotify original from Parcast. Executive producers include Max and Ron Cutler. Sound design by Scott Strannick, with production assistance by Ron Shapiro, Trent Williamson, Carly Madden, and Bruce Katovich. This episode of Serial Killers was written by Emma Dibdin, with writing assistance by Joel Callan, fact-checking by Amber Hurley and research by Brian Petrus and Chelsea Wood.

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