Toronto

Case of alleged serial killer Bruce McArthur put over to Oct. 5

Bruce McArthur, the alleged serial killer charged with eight counts of first-degree murder, will appear in a Toronto court on Wednesday morning.

The 66-year-old landscaper, charged with 1st-degree murder in the deaths of 8 men, appeared in Toronto court

Alleged serial killer Bruce McArthur is charged with first-degree murder in connection with the disappearances of eight men. (Pam Davies/CBC)

Bruce McArthur, the alleged serial killer charged with eight counts of first-degree murder, made a brief Wednesday morning court appearance via a video link from a Toronto jail. 

A justice of the peace has placed the details of this appearance under a publication ban. McArthur, a 66-year-old self-employed landscaper, appeared tired. 

He is set to return to court in person on Oct. 5. 

McArthur is accused of killing eight men, many of whom had ties to the city's Gay Village, and were reported missing between 2010 and 2017. 

They are: Skandaraj Navaratnam, 40, Andrew Kinsman, 49, Selim Esen, 44, and Abdulbasir Faizi, 44, Kirushna Kumar Kanagaratnam, 37, Dean Lisowick, 47, Soroush Mahmudi, 50, and Majeed Kayhan, 58.

McArthur is accused of killing these eight men. Top row, from left to right, Skandaraj Navaratnam, 40, Andrew Kinsman, 49, Selim Esen, 44, and Abdulbasir Faizi, 44. Bottom row, from left to right: Kirushna Kumar Kanagaratnam, 37, Dean Lisowick, 47, Soroush Mahmudi, 50, and Majeed Kayhan, 58. (Toronto Police Service/CBC)

In July, police finished a nine-day, inch-by-inch search of a ravine near a home on Mallory Crescent, where the dismembered remains of several men were found buried in large garden planters. McArthur worked as a landscaper at the north Toronto property for 10 years in exchange for equipment storage. 

Acting Insp. Hank Idsinga, who is leading the investigation, has said police have no reason to believe they will find the remains of any other possible victims at any of the roughly 100 properties they have searched across the Greater Toronto Area.

Idsinga noted that investigators continue, however, to review cold-case files and missing-persons cases dating back to the 1970s and 1980s. He also said the service continues to field tips from the public about the case.

McArthur has been in custody at the Toronto South Detention Centre in Etobicoke since his arrest on Jan. 18.

With files from Linda Ward