Killer Stories with Harvey Guillén - "Mall Santa" Bruce McArthur Pt. 2

Episode Date: May 27, 2021

By the beginning of 2011, Bruce McArthur had killed and dismembered two men, hiding their bodies in enormous planters at a client's house. But when police let him slip through their hands, he was free to kill again.  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. A Tim Horton's parking lot was not where Jack planned on spending his evening. It was a beautiful summer's night in Toronto, a perfect night to have friends over for drinks in his backyard. But instead, here he was, sitting behind the wheel of his van, waiting to meet a man whose company he'd started to dread. Jack had always liked Bruce MacArthur. He found Bruce easy to talk to and fun to hook up with, but they'd never seriously dated.

It was just a casual thing, which was all either of them wanted. But lately, Jack got the uneasy sense that Bruce wanted more. He'd been leaving Jack notes and showing up at his house unannounced. And Jack didn't know what to do with all of the attention. Bruce had always seemed so ordinary. A jovial man who loved plants and worked as a mall Santa. But now, Jack wondered if he really knew Bruce at all. Tonight, he planned on putting an end to it. When he saw Bruce's red band pull into the parking lot,

he braced himself for the awkward conversation to come. He waved at Bruce and started heading towards the coffee shop entrance, but Bruce didn't follow. Instead, he opened the door of his van and said, get in. Jack hesitated. But Bruce was insistent. Perhaps figuring the conversation would be over quicker this way, Jack relented and climbed into the dark van. Just like that, he'd stepped right into a deadly trap.

Hi, I'm Greg Poulson. This is Serial Killers, a Spotify original from Parkast. Every episode, we dive into the minds and madness of serial killers. Today, we're continuing the story of Bruce McArthur, one of the most prolific serial killers. one of the most prolific serial killers in Canada'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 listen to podcasts. In our last episode, we explored MacArthur's strict religious upbringing in rural Ontario, his closeted early life as a family man in the suburbs, and how his late in life coming out was overshadowed by a descent into murder. Today, we'll look at MacArthur's vicious murder spree throughout the 2010s, how he targeted vulnerable men on the fringes of society, and how a controversial police investigation allowed him to remain at large for so long. We've got all that and more coming up. Stay with us.

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His first victim, Scandaraj Navaradnam, was also his long-time on-off boyfriend. His second, Abdul Basir Faisi, was a father and husband who lived a double life in Toronto's gay village. In both cases, MacArthur displayed the same chillingly meticulous M.O., going through a routine that seemed like the hallmark of a seasoned killer. He strangled both men, dismembered them, and hid their remains inside planters at a property where he did landscaping work. Neither disappearance had been extensively investigated, and MacArthur enjoyed the heady feeling of getting away with murder. By the fall of 2012,

he was emboldened to kill again. As we discussed last time, MacArthur's incidents of violence all took place around the holidays. His first recorded assault was on Halloween, while his first murders took place on Labor Day and during the Christmas period. It's often said that three occurrences makes a pattern, so based on that logic, it seems likely that holidays were a trigger for MacArthur. MacArthur turned 61 on October 8, 2012. We don't know exactly how or if he celebrated, or if he spent the occasion alone, but just a few days later, he reconnected with an ex.

58-year-old Majid Kehan had known MacArthur for a while. Apparently, the pair had a sexual relationship at some point, and MacArthur had also employed Majeed for a while at his landscaping business. Originally from Afghanistan, Masheed apparently led a double life in Toronto's gay village. He kept an apartment in the area, but also had a wife and family in the suburbs. If this sounds familiar,

it's probably because MacArthur chose his victims carefully and with purpose. Just like Abdul Basir, Majid kept his life compartmentalized in a way that made it easier for him to slip through the cracks. Details about MacArthur. and Majid's encounter on October 18th are murky. But since he was now a practice killer, and had spent many months laying low, MacArthur was likely being careful.

Perhaps he suggested to Majid that they have a night in, avoiding the busy village bars and clubs. They shared a few drinks, possibly at MacArthur's apartment. Then, when Majid's guard was down, MacArthur struck. The cause of death is unknown, but based on MacArthur's other victims, it's likely that he strangled Majid to death.

Ordinarily, MacArthur dismembered his victim's bodies right away, but tonight he wanted more. He felt compelled to do something new, something he wished he'd thought of before. Using a digital camera, he took photographs of Majid's lifeless form. This was a huge risk to take, something MacArthur must have known. Previously, he'd taken such pains to dispose of his victim's bodies,

carefully covering his tracks. But for some reason, he couldn't stand to dispose of Majid without preserving his image first. And he didn't stop there. MacArthur saved the photos in a folder on his computer and labeled it with Majid's name. Reports also indicate that MacArthur dressed up his victim's bodies, often in a fur coat and a fur hat.

Sometimes he propped a cigar in their mouth. We don't know exactly which victims he dressed up, but this apparently became his M.O. Vanessa is going to take over on 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. Although the act of posing or staging a corpse after a murder

is often talked about as a hallmark of a serial killer, it's pretty uncommon behavior. In a 2004 paper in the Journal of Forensic Sciences, researchers noted that in a 20-year study of murders, only 1.3% of victims' bodies were left in an unusual position. Within this 1.3% more victims were posed than staged. This distinction is important. Posing means that the act is done purely to satisfy the fantasy needs of the offender, whereas staging is an attempt to mislead law enforcement.

Here, MacArthur was clearly posing his victims. not staging them. He had no intention of letting the police see any of these photographs. They were purely for his own personal use. Once he'd saved his images of Majid to his personal collection, MacArthur coldly disposed of his body. He dismembered him and buried his remains in the ravine behind a home on Mallory Crescent. MacArthur had access to the house because he did landscaping work there. It was the same place he'd disposed of his first two victims. Meanwhile, in the suburbs of Toronto, Majid's family was getting worried. When Majid's adult son couldn't get a hold of him, he alerted the police.

It seems the authorities hadn't yet made a firm connection between Scandaraj and Abdul Basir's disappearances, but once Majid vanished, things changed. Two missing men could be a coincidence. Three was a pattern. In November 2012, Toronto Police launched the Project Houston Task Force, which was dedicated to investigating the three missing persons cases. There aren't many details available on the inquiry, but by early 2013, the task force determined that the three men had likely been kidnapped or murdered. Despite this troubling assumption, the investigation moved slowly. It wasn't until months

after Project Houston launched that the authorities made a breakthrough. Investigators combed through the three victims' contacts and email records, searching for any links. And finally, they found one. The username Silver Fox 51 showed up in both Scanderage's email contacts and scribbled in Abdul Basir's notebook. Luckily, the email contact had a cell phone number attached. It was Bruce MacArthur's number. On November 11, 2013, police interviewed MacArthur, but it seems he wasn't considered a suspect,

merely a witness, someone who knew both men and might be able to help. the investigation. During the interview, MacArthur confirmed that the email address was his. He also admitted that he'd had a sexual relationship with Majid and had been, quote, friends with scantarage, but told police he didn't recognize Abdul Bacier's photograph. We know now that this was a lie, but for whatever reason, investigators seemed content to take MacArthur's word for it. It's unclear whether or not police looked into his past before the interview, but if they had, they would discovered his violent assault of a man in the village in 2001. Knowing this surely would have made them more suspicious of MacArthur's answers. A lot of the facts surrounding this investigation

were only unsealed a few years ago, and some of the pieces remain redacted. But we know that MacArthur's assault conviction was still on his record at this time, so it should have been easy for the police to dig it up. It seems unlikely that investigators did their due diligence, because they let MacArthur go without further incident. Then, within months, Project Houston was abruptly disbanded. A police spokesperson said that at the time, the task force didn't uncover any criminal wrongdoing, and that it was taking too many resources to be sustainable. But for those in the neighborhood, the streets still didn't feel safe.

The possibility of a serial killer stalking the church and Wellesley village struck fear into the heart of an already marginalized community. MacArthur laid low for some time after the police interview, plotting his next move. He knew everybody was on high alert in the village and that he couldn't afford to have any more of his acquaintances go missing. His next target had to be somebody he had no connection to, somebody he could manipulate, and somebody who wouldn't be missed.

Coming up, MacArthur Meet, The perfect victim. The internet. What would we do without it? So much information, so little time. And yet, with all the answers available online, there still lie 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 to separate hoax from haunt. Whether it's the video sure to make you lose your appetite, blank room soup, or every kid's worst nightmare, the terrifying truth behind Disney's deaths. Or every parent's worst nightmare, social media's Momo challenge.

Each episode of Internet Urban Legends is chock full of disturbing details which are either truly demented or ripe for debunking. And no matter our conclusion, we're sure to be left scared half to death. So won't you join us? Follow our new Spotify original from Parkast, Internet Urban Legends. Listen free and exclusively on Spotify. Are you looking for support in your weight management journey? Zepbound tersephatide may be able to help.

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Call 1-800-545-9-9 or visit zepbounce.lily.com. Now back to the story. In the summer of 2015, 163-year-old Bruce MacArthur was in the midst of a late-in-life renaissance. While most men of his age would be on the cusp of retirement, may be making plans to live out their twilight years someplace warmer, MacArthur had no intention of slowing down. MacArthur had already murdered three men,

and it was proving to be a meticulous and ruthless killer, leaving no trace behind. He also had no problem restraining himself when necessary. It had now been almost three years since his second. last kill. After being questioned by police, he knew laying low was the right move, but in August of 2015, he decided enough time had passed, and he soon found his next target in Iranian refugee Sarush Mamoudi. It's not clear exactly how the two men met, but we do know that they didn't have any prior relationship. It's likely that MacArthur and Sirush met on a dating site or app.

MacArthur was active on Grindr and Scroff and had been meeting men using the website Silver Daddies for years. Around August 15th, the two men met up and had sex, perhaps at MacArthur's apartment or possibly somewhere more mobile. Some of the men he dated reported that he was strange about bringing them home and often preferred to use his van, a maroon Dodge caravan he used for work. Wherever they were that night, MacArthur strangled Sirouche with some kind of ligature. a rope or cord. The murder was described in court documents as sexual in nature. Following his disturbing new pattern, MacArthur posed and took photographs of Sirush's body to save for later.

After taking his photographic trinkets, MacArthur began dismembering Sirush's body. Though it had been years since he last killed, he easily slipped back into his old routine. Conveniently, he still had access to the house on Mallory Crescent, so he buried Sirush's remains there. Back home, MacArthur looked through the pictures he'd taken of Sirush. He picked out his favorite few, deleting the rest from his digital camera.

Then he uploaded the pictures to his computer and stored them in a new folder. It seems he didn't know Sirush's name because he didn't label the folder properly like he did with others, but that wouldn't stop him from getting perverse enjoyment out of the pictures, and that wasn't the only benefit he took from his latest kill. Now that he had successfully lured and murdered a complete stranger, MacArthur knew he could do it again. But he bided his time for a few months, knowing that too many disappearances too close together

would draw unwanted attention. Then, just after the new year, he found another perfect mark. In January of 2016, MacArthur met 37-year-old Karushna Kanagarotnam. Karushna had come to Canada years earlier as an asylum seeker from Sri Lanka, but his asylum claim had recently been denied.

By 2015, he no longer had a work permit and was given a deportation order. This is a tragic story for many reasons, not least because Karusha's undocumented status made him especially vulnerable. MacArthur, by now well-practiced at picking targets, knew this well. Karusha didn't have any known ties to Toronto's gay village,

and it's not clear whether identified as queer. It's also not clear how he met MacArthur, but based on the previous victim profiles, it could have been on a dating site or app. Around January 6th, the two men met up. At some point, MacArthur strangled Carusina to death using a ligature. Again, this murder was later described as sexual in nature. MacArthur posed his fifth victim for photos, just as he had with Sarush and saved them to his hard drive. He dismembered him and buried his remains at the Mallory Crescent House. Karushna was close with his family and kept in regular touch with them. But when they didn't hear from him, they didn't suspect anything out of the ordinary. This was another

devastating consequence of Karushna's immigration situation. Because he was at risk of being deported, his family simply assumed he was hiding from authorities and keeping a low profile. As a result, Karushna wasn't reported missing, and MacArthur got away with murder for the fifth time. Even if and when Karushna's family did realize something was wrong, it's possible they would have been reluctant to get the police involved. Undocumented immigrants and their families are much less likely to report crime and participate in court proceedings because they're afraid of deportation.

Michael Kaufman, an attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union, noted in two 2017 that because undocumented immigrants fear reporting crimes, more victims will remain in the shadows and more immigrants will be vulnerable to abuse. It's possible MacArthur chose Carusina for this very reason. By now, he'd clearly adapted his MO to avoid capture. After being interviewed by the police, he went from targeting people he knew well to targeting strangers. Now by targeting a man whose immigration status made him his

especially vulnerable, MacArthur had protected himself even better, and he was on a role. Four months later, in April of 2016, MacArthur met Dean Lissowick. Dean was vulnerable in a different way from MacArthur's other victims. He had a history of mental illness that had landed him on the streets, and he regularly stayed at homeless shelters throughout Toronto. He was also a sex worker, which may have been how he met MacArthur. In late April, Dean ended up either at MacArthur. MacArthur's apartment, or possibly inside his fan.

We don't know exactly what transpired between the two, but at some point during the night, MacArthur strangled Dean to death. Once again, MacArthur posed Dean's body, dressing him up in furs and taking photographs. He also took jewelry from Dean, something he hadn't done since his first victim. Once his trinkets were secured,

MacArthur dismembered Dean, drove his remains to the Mallory Crescent House, buried him in large planters at the back of the yard. Dean had lost touch with his family since becoming homeless, so like Khrushna, he wasn't reported missing. But this wasn't the only reason MacArthur evaded capture for so long. There were systemic failures that served him well. We'll cover those a little later. For now, 2016 rolled on, giving MacArthur another opportunity to attack, and the police another opportunity to stop him. of that year, MacArthur set his sights on his next victim. This man's name hasn't been released,

but here we'll call him Jack. Jack was a mechanic who'd served in the Canadian forces and now worked at an auto shop. He'd met MacArthur online in 2011, and they'd stayed in touch ever since, dating on and off. Jack had always found MacArthur to be pleasant, easy to get along with. For the most part, he enjoyed his company, but that year, things changed. MacArthur had become obsessive, behaving like a stalker. He'd show up unannounced at Jack's house or leave notes under his windshield while he was parked at work. More than once, Jack came home at night to find MacArthur sitting in his driveway. It was unnerving, but for reasons that aren't clear, Jack finally agreed to meet up with MacArthur for coffee.

On June 20th, the men met up in the parking lot of a Tim Hortons. Jack headed for the entrance, but MacArthur stopped him. He told Jack that he wanted to talk in private, inside his van. He was insistent. Jack relented. He got into MacArthur's van. Inside, the floor was covered in plastic tarps, but this didn't strike Jack as strange. MacArthur was a landscaper, after all.

MacArthur asked Jack to lie down. Jack agreed, figuring there was no harm in a quick hookup. But as soon as Jack lay down on the tarp-covered floor, MacArthur's face darkened. He climbed on top of Jack, pinning him to the ground, and put a hand tight around his neck. Jack couldn't breathe. He struggled furiously. As his vision started to darken, he realized MacArthur was going to kill him. His mind flashed suddenly to his mother, to what it would be like for her to bury him.

And then another thought flashed into his mind. A single word. No. It took everything in Jack to flip himself over onto his stuff. and slip away from MacArthur. He scrambled for the door of the van and burst his way out into the parking lot. Back at his own van, Jack made a frantic call to the police, but MacArthur was already on the move, speeding away into traffic.

Shaking with adrenaline and fury, Jack was determined not to let his attacker get away. Still on the phone with the police, he steered into traffic after MacArthur, tires screeching. The police told Jack that he needed to get to the police. Jack that he needed to pull over, and finally, after chasing his attacker for a while, he relented. He believed the officer who told him that the police would take care of this. But that's not exactly what happened. The police did arrest MacArthur for assault, but when they questioned him, MacArthur said

that the incident had been consensual. The police found his story credible. To them, he seemed genuine. And so once again, they let him go. If MacArthur needed any more evidence that he was unstoppable, here it was. He'd been questioned by police twice and remained a free man. Both times his history of violent assault was seemingly ignored. This is all the more striking because MacArthur was making no effort to hide his proclivities. On dating apps, he told matches that he liked to push the limits during sex and that he wanted to, quote, see how much you could take.

Over the next few months, MacArthur's violent urges continued to spill out during his sexual encounters. One former partner from this period recalled that MacArthur suddenly grabbed his head and twisted it during sex. Another man said that MacArthur drugged him, then took pictures of him, and sexually assaulted him while he was unconscious. Hiding in plain sight for all these years must have gone to MacArthur's head. He felt unstoppable. and in April of 2017, almost a year on from his failed attack on Jack, he was ready to kill again. One night, sitting in his van, MacArthur spotted 44-year-old Selim Essin.

Like so many of MacArthur's victims, Selim was an immigrant. He'd come to Canada from Turkey four years earlier and moved to the village, where he managed a cafe and had a large circle of friends. MacArthur befriended Selim on the street and invited him into his van. MacArthur then drove Selim to his apartment and the two had sex. MacArthur bound Selim with ropes and strangled him to death. Then he went through his usual post-kill ritual, posing photographs and a new folder at his hard drive. Before dismembering him and burying him at the Mallory Crescent House,

MacArthur also took a notebook from Selim, the latest trinket in what was becoming quite a collection. Unlike MacArthur's last two victims, it didn't take long as well. for Selim's disappearance to be noticed. Selim was usually in touch with his best friend every day, so when he went silent, his friend contacted the police. With no known link between the two men, MacArthur remained at large, but despite his meticulous M.O.,

he was beginning to lose control of himself. For years now, MacArthur had been careful to kill only men who he had no personal connection to. That way, he figured that nobody could trace the murders back to him. and his plan had worked just as he hoped. But now he was getting sloppy. His violent episodes with sexual partners

suggest that he was becoming increasingly impulsive and reckless. And before long, that recklessness would be his downfall. Up next, MacArthur's luck finally runs out. Want to support your gut health? Take Activia's gut health challenge by enjoying two Activio Yogurt today for two weeks and see if you feel a difference. With billions of probiotics and 20 years of scientific expertise, Activia is one of the easiest and tastiest ways to start your gut health ritual.

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kinks without judgment. It was here that MacArthur first encountered Andrew Kinsman, a 49-year-old activist and bartender. They'd known each other for years, and by the summer of 2017, the two were in a casual sexual relationship. On June 26, 2017, Andrew had a date with MacArthur. He'd even marked the occasion in his diary with a single word, Bruce. At some point during the evening, MacArthur bound Andrew using ropes. But given what we know about MacArthur's proclivities and the fact that he met Andrew at a leather bar, this might not have been out of the ordinary.

It's worth emphasizing here that consensual rough sex, including binding and choking, can be part of a healthy and respectful BDSM dynamic. Though BDSM remains controversial both legally and societally, there are typically a number of rules in place which are designed to keep things in BDSM parlance, safe, sane, and consensual. In a 2019 paper on this subject,

University of British Columbia researchers Kara Dunkley and Laurie Brotto noted that consent is the crucial factor that sets BDSM activity apart from abusive behavior. In other words, without the informed consent of all those involved, BDSM is just abuse. MacArthur used kink as a smokescreen for his violent impulses.

He told potential hookups that he liked to, quote, push till you can't take any more. But while this may have been true, he had no interest in respecting the rules of BDSM or of obtaining real consent. Many of his partners were under the influence of drugs, which makes informed consent impossible. Other reports about MacArthur

suggests that he ignored his partner's safe words, breaking another cardinal rule of BDS. With that in mind, when MacArthur began choking him, using a piece of rope with a metal bar attached, Andrew may not have been alarmed. But MacArthur ignored his safe words. He ignored his struggles. He just kept strangling Andrew until he was dead. After killing Andrew, MacArthur shaved his head and took photographs of him with the murder weapon still around his neck.

He went through his usual grisly ritual, posing, photographing, and dismembering Andrew's body. and bearing his remains at the Mallory Crescent House. But MacArthur was getting sloppy. After seemingly choosing his victims so carefully for so long, he could hardly have picked a more conspicuous target than Andrew Kinsman. Andrew was well known around the village as an activist and champion for the LGBTQIA-plus community. His absence was immediately noticed,

and within days, missing persons' posters were plastered all over the neighborhood. That's not the only factor that set Andrew apart. MacArthur's first seven victims were all men of color, mainly immigrants of South Asian and Middle Eastern descent. They therefore faced particular cultural pressures when it came to being gay, which made them more likely to live double lives. It's also important to note that the queer community is not immune from racism. Many activists have argued over the years that queer history,

and in particular the gay rights movement, has been whitewashed. The intersection of race and sexuality creates a lot of additional barriers and stigmas that queer people of color must navigate. A case in point, Andrew was white and Canadian-born, and his disappearance was the turning point in the long-stagnant investigation. A community-wide search began. Just over a month later, in August, Toronto Police launched a new task force called Project Prism, focusing on the disappearances of Andrew. Andrew and Selim. That summer was a time of terror for the village. When the disappearances first began in 2010, there had been rumors of a serial killer in their midst.

Even still, police effort to follow up on those fears was lackluster at best. But despite the lack of any developments in the investigation, many in the community had never really stopped living in fear. And now that the crimes were at last being openly investigated, those anxieties were rekindled tenfold. With the new task force on the job, it didn't take long for the police to identify MacArthur as a person of interest. MacArthur was panicking. After slipping through the authority's fingers so many times, he sensed the net closing around him. He had deleted the vast trove of murder photographs from his computer, perhaps realizing how reckless it was to keep such damning evidence.

He also pawned his van at a local scrapyard, accepting just $150,000. in cash. He figured it was worth taking the financial hit to get rid of his incriminating vehicle. But within a month, police recovered the van and conducted a forensic analysis. They found traces of blood in the trunk and on the back seat. In November, the police began covertly monitoring MacArthur's movements and tapped his phone. Then just a month later, authorities obtained warrants to search MacArthur's residence and copy the hard drive on his computer. At last, police were closing in on their man. In January of 2018, they found evidence connecting MacArthur to two more of the victims who had disappeared. It's not clear exactly what this

evidence was, but it's likely that it was DNA from his van. An even bigger breakthrough came from MacArthur's cloned hard drive. Though MacArthur had tried to delete his collection of mementos, he hadn't done a very thorough job. It's generally easy for law enforcement to notice when data has been deleted from a hard drive and to recover the lost information. We're not sure exactly when, but police eventually found MacArthur's trove of horrific photographs, 18,000 of them in total. Together, these stunning discoveries were what police needed to finally close their net.

On January 17th, MacArthur was put under 24-hour surveillance, while an arrest warrant was prepared. But the very next morning, MacArthur forced their hand. Around 10.30, officers surveilling MacArthur's apartment saw a young man entering the building. It's not clear why the police suspected that this man was going to visit MacArthur, but we can hazard a guess. The man who was identified by the pseudonym John in court was Middle Eastern,

aka similar to MacArthur's other targets. It's also possible that the police were aware of a link between the two men. In any case, the police weren't willing to take any chances. Though they didn't yet have their arrest warrant, they moved in. Inside MacArthur's apartment, officers found John bound and restrained to a bed, but unharmed. They arrested MacArthur on two counts of first-degree murder for the deaths of Salameson and Andrew Kinsman.

With MacArthur in custody, the police had a new priority, finding enough evidence to convict him. So far, they had eight missing men and no bodies. Fortunately, they did have a lead. The police were able to get hold of MacArthur's client list from his landscaping business, which was essentially a roadmap of all the places he had access to across the city. The police searched a total of 100 properties in and around Toronto, homes where MacArthur had done landscaping work or stored tools over the years, and finally at a neat, beautifully landscaped home on Mallory Crescent,

officers made a grisly discovery. Inside a row of large planters were the buried remains of at least three human bodies, and the police suspected there were more to come. In the following months, investigators found the remains of more and more victims, many of them skeletonized and mixed together. All of the bodies were found either inside planters, or buried in the nearby ravine. As more and more of the men were gradually identified,

prosecutors were able to charge MacArthur with more murders. Ultimately, six more charges were filed against MacArthur for the murders of Scandaraj, Majid, Abdul Basir, Surush, Dean, and Kirushna. When 67-year-old Bruce MacArthur's trial began in January of 2019, he was notorious. charged with eight murders, he was the most prolific known serial killer in Toronto's history. As the first-degree murder charges were read out in court, MacArthur pleaded guilty to every single one.

The next month, he was convicted on all eight counts and sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole for 25 years. Back in the village, the ripples of trauma were still being felt. Many in the community who had long been convinced that a serial killer was on the loose, felt betrayed and ignored by the police. Others were deeply unsettled that a monster could have hidden in plain sight, in the midst of a tight-knit and supportive queer community for so long. Michael Arndfield, a criminology professor at the University of Western Ontario,

discussed the case at length with the Toronto Star. He noted that, in his opinion, blending in with a community while simultaneously, Collecting victims from that same community, a behavior he called trapping, was consistent with older offenders like MacArthur. Artfield explained that trappers will typically use a ruse or a con to lure their victims into a compromising situation, which tracks with MacArthur's M.O. But was this always MacArthur's intention? Did he move to the village all those years ago with the express intention of stalking and murdering victims? it seems more likely that at some point he truly did yearn to be a part of that community, but he never quite belonged. Many of the men who knew MacArthur, including the friends of his victims,

described him as a loner. He was more comfortable in a dark leather bar than a brightly lit village pub. In the last episode, we discussed the internalized homophobia that MacArthur unlikely grew up with, coming from a deeply religious home where homosexuality was considered shameful. Even after coming out in his 40s, he never really overcame this deep-rooted sense of shame, and it kept him from ever feeling at home in the village. Over the years of failing to fit in, failing to find a place for himself, even in this liberated enclave, MacArthur's feelings toward the village

and its inhabitants began to curdle. Underlying his brutal crimes was a deep rage and jealousy of a community he never felt able to fully. be a part of. But in the end, it was also a community he never deserved. A community whose kindness and openness he exploited for his own twisted needs. And now, an almost 70-year-old man will likely die behind bars. MacArthur is exactly as alone as he deserves to be. Thanks again for tuning into serial killers. We'll be back soon with another episode. For more information, I'm Bruce MacArthur. Amongst the many sources we used, we found Xander Sherman's article in Vanity Fair,

extremely helpful in our research. You can find all episodes of serial killers and all other Spotify originals from Parcast for free on Spotify. We'll see you next time. Have a killer week. Serial Killers is a Spotify original from Parcast. Executive producers include Max and Ron Cuddler, Sound designed by Scott Strannick, with production assistance by Ron Shapiro, Trent Williamson, Carly Madden, and Bruce Gatovich. 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. Serial killers stars Greg Paulson and Vanessa Richardson. Want to hear something spooky. Some monster, it reminded me of Bigfoot.

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