Potential evidence found at a Leaside property linked to accused serial killer Bruce McArthur was loaded into a vehicle believed to be from the Office of the Chief Coroner of Ontario on Wednesday afternoon.
Footage captured by the CTV News Toronto chopper showed officers combing through the ravine behind the Mallory Crescent home on Wednesday before placing what was discovered inside a black van with black-tinted windows outside of the home.
The police activity at the home was sparked by new information regarding the property, where the dismembered remains of seven men were found in large planters, according to Toronto police spokesperson Meghan Gray.
CP24’s crime specialist Steve Ryan said any evidence that is found at the property during this further search will be treated as “the most fragile.”
“Anytime a person dies or a body is located, whether it’s a full body or remains, that becomes property of the coroner of the province of Ontario and it is the responsibility of the coroner to remove that body or body parts,” he said while watching the active scene at the Leaside home. “From my past experience, that looks to be like two employees of the coroner’s office and a vehicle of the coroner’s office and to me it looks like they are removing something from that scene.”
“You can just imagine how carefully they have to transport that (evidence) from the ground to that vehicle and from that vehicle to the coroner’s office. At the end of the day you have to prove to the court that nothing was tampered with when it (the evidence) came from the ground.”
Police previously wrapped up their search at the home, where McArthur stored tools for his landscaping business, and moved on to search about 100 other properties with ties to the accused.
“Nothing was found at those properties,” Gray said.
Officers returned to the Mallory Crescent property on May 31 with police dogs and Gray said following that visit, investigators decided that further excavation was needed.
“Officers expect to be there over the next several weeks and when that excavation is complete, our investigators will update as to what, if anything, was found on the property," Gray said.
Police also spent months poring over McArthur's Thorncliffe Park apartment where more than 1,800 pieces of evidence were seized and 18,000 photographs were taken by officers.
McArthur, 66, has been charged with first-degree murder in the deaths of Selim Esen, Andrew Kinsman, Majeed Kayhan, Dean Lisowick, Soroush Mahmudi, Skandaraj Navaratnam, Abdulbasir Faizi and Kirushna Kanagaratnam. Police said they believe all eight men were killed between 2010 and 2017.
Many of the men had ties to the city’s LGBT community and had been previously been reported missing.
Police say they have positively identified the remains of all of the alleged victims with the exception of Majeed Kayhan.
Officers wrapped up their search of the property in Leaside at around 7 p.m. on Wednesday and said they are holding the scene for further investigation beginning on Thursday morning.
McArthur is expected to return to court on July 23.
