Ray William Johnson: True Story Podcast - The Gay Santa Claus Serial Killer // The Bruce McArthur Murders

Episode Date: April 3, 2026

Bruce McArthur is a Canadian serial killer who murdered eight men in Toronto between 2010 and 2017. A self-employed landscaper who occasionally worked as a shopping mall Santa Claus, McArthur targeted vulnerable men, many of whom had ties to Toronto's Gay Village.

Did you know that Santa Claus is gay? He's also a serial killer? Let me explain. Now, this story starts with this guy, Bruce. And Bruce is about 49 when all this begins, and he's living in Toronto, Canada. And Bruce is a gay man. But also, he secretly has a very violent side to him. Like one night in 2001, he's hanging out with a guy at the guy's apartment,

and they barely know each other. But suddenly, Bruce pulls out this metal pipe, and bam, he hits him. and bam, he hits him again and again. Now luckily, the guy is able to flee the apartment and get away and call 911. And later, Bruce does the right thing and he turns himself in, and he gets sentenced to a year of house arrest, and he's officially banned from the gay village, which is the gay area of town.

After this, Bruce just chills. Like, he doesn't attack anyone else. He's on his best non-violent behavior for years. Like he starts his own landscaping business. landscaping business, and he also gets a side job as a mall Santa Claus. So that's fun. And after a few years, his ban in the gay village expires, and he goes back to frequenting the bars there to pick up men. And at the same time, he's also on numerous dating sites, like one called Silver Daddies, and another one called Man Jam, and another one called Squirt. Ugh. Anyway, these hobbies are

keeping him out of trouble. But then it's 2010, and Bruce is around 58 now. And around this time, something changes in him, and he gets the urge to get violent again. So one night, he's hanging out with this guy that he's been seeing on and off again for a while, and they're at a nightclub. And then they leave the club together, and they go back to Bruce's apartment. And there, suddenly, Bruce kills him. And we don't exactly know how he does it, but he does. Then he takes pictures of the body, and then he dismembers it, and he buries it in a big plant pot at a friend's house. Because remember, he has a landscaping business, so he's always digging and burying things. Anyway, a few months later, he does it again.

He meets this guy in a local gay bath house, and allegedly Bruce invites him back to a client's home, who he's house-sitting for, and while they're there, Bruce apparently lures him into the bedroom, and then bam, he strangles him, and he murders him. then he takes pictures of the body and he buries it in a large garden planner at a friend's house. Two years later, in 2012, he strikes again. Bruce is hanging out with a guy that he used to smash with and suddenly, bam, he strangles him and he kills him. Then he takes pictures of the body and then he dumps him in a local ravine. Now, at this point, local police, they're starting to see a pattern here. Three middle-aged gay men have gone missing and all three are immigrants with

ethnic backgrounds who frequented the gay village? Something weird is going on. Then they get an anonymous tip, and this tipster tells them that at least two of the men were known to hang out with a guy named Bruce. So police called Bruce in, and they question him. And Bruce is like, yeah, I know those guys, but I didn't kill anyone. And police believe him, and they let him go.

Now eventually, police kind of let the three cases go cold because they're just not getting anywhere with them. So, Bruce, he sees this as a sign to keep going. And he kills again and again and again. Like he'll meet up with a guy and then he'll kill them and then he'll take pictures of the body. And I can't show you this, but I can describe it to you. Sometimes he'll dress the bodies up in fur coats and like hats

and he'll put a cigar in their mouth and he'll take pictures. Sometimes he'll shave their head or their beard and then he'll take pictures. And after that, he'll go home and he'll save the pictures on his computer, on his hard drive. And he has like thousands of these photos. And he keeps them in numbered folders for each victim, and they're all like nicely organized. And he even keeps souvenirs at his house from his victims, like he'll keep their jewelry or he keeps one guy's notebook.

He was a weird dude. But anyway, so a few more years pass, and it's now 2016. And here is where Bruce starts slipping up. Around this time, he meets a guy on one of the many dating apps he's on, and later they meet up in this parking lot. And there, Bruce invites him to get into the back of his van, I guess to smash. So the guy gets in the back of the van, and they start making out. And suddenly, boom, Bruce grabs the guy, and he starts strangling him. But this guy, he ain't no punk.

He's not about to die today. So he fights back, and he busts out of the van, and he runs away as fast as he can, and he actually gets away. And as soon as he can, he calls the police. So eventually, Bruce has to turn himself in again because police are looking for him. And so police questioned him, and Bruce tells them that,

me and this guy, we were just hooking up and that it was all consensual, and that he thought the guy just liked it kind of rough in bed. And I guess police believe him, and they let him go. So it seems like the dude is just going to keep murdering people and getting away with it forever. After 19 years, they're back. Frankie Munes, Brian Cranston, and the rest of the family reunite in Malcolm in the middle, life's still unfair.

After 10 years avoiding them, how and lowest demand Malcolm be at their anniversary party, pulling him straight back into their chaos. Malcolm in the middle, life's still unfair. A special four-part event, streaming April 10th on Hulu on Disney Plus. Until. Until Bruce kills a Canadian citizen. Let me explain. One day in 2017, Bruce arranges to meet up with a guy he knows. This guy, Andrew.

And Andrew is a Canadian citizen, and he's also out of the closet. See, at this point, Bruce has killed mostly immigrants from Muslim backgrounds who are secretly living a gay double life. Meaning it's difficult for anyone to connect their disappearances back to Bruce because their families don't even know that they're gay. Well, Andrew is out of the closet, and I guess he's, He's a pretty organized guy too, so much so that he actually writes the name Bruce in his calendar at home, I guess to remind himself when he's supposed to meet up with him.

So anyway, Andrew meets up with Bruce and once they're alone, bam, Bruce strangles him, and then he takes pictures of the body and then he buries him in those large planners that he buried some of the others in. Now, because Andrew is not an immigrant and he's out of the closet, he's well known throughout the gay community, and people immediately notice that he's missing. And so they go to police. And police have to take this one seriously. So they start investigating, and they end up finding surveillance footage of Andrew getting into a Dodge caravan, and they connect that caravan to Bruce. They also search Andrew's apartment, and they see that he had logged Bruce's name in his calendar.

So now, unbeknownst to Bruce, he's on police's radar. And they go and they get a special warrant that allows them to search Bruce's apartment while he's not at home. And while they're searching the place, they find all these disturbing images of his dead victims on his hard drive. And so they place him under surveillance. And one day, they're surveilling him. And Bruce invites some guy that he met on a dating app over to his apartment to hook up. And when the guy arrives at Bruce's place and goes inside, boom, Bruce restrains him in his

bedroom. And police, they're posted up outside. surveilling the place, and they see this guy go in, and they're like, oh shit, this might be Bruce's next victim. So they run up to his apartment, and boom, boom, boom, they pound on the door, and Bruce opens it up, and he lets them in for some reason, and they see his about to be murdered victim handcuffed to Bruce's bed looking all terrified. That is when officers moved in, rushing the apartment, kicking down the door. And so, bam, they arrest Bruce. And I don't have his mugshot, but here's your house. what he looks like in real life.

And so ultimately, Bruce pleads guilty to eight murders and he gets sentenced to life in prison.