Police have discovered more human remains in a ravine behind a Leaside property linked to alleged serial killer Bruce McArthur.
Det. Sgt. Hank Idsinga said that investigators found the remains on Thursday “in the same general area” where remains were found on Wednesday.
Idsinga had previously described that area as a “compost pile” made up of “leaves, brush and dirt.”
“Obviously once we stumbled upon the first remains it wasn’t a surprise that we would find more,” Idsinga told reporters during a hastily-arranged briefing on Friday morning. “We continue digging in the same area and have a long ways to go.”
The part of the ravine that police are searching is located immediately behind the Mallory Crescent property where McArthur reportedly stored landscaping equipment.
This past winter, police located the dismembered remains of seven men in large planters on that property. They then returned to the area on Wednesday after police dogs identified several areas of interest in the ravine.
Idsinga said that the remains found this week will all be sent for a post-mortem examination on Monday, at which point police will be able to determine whether they belong to any of the seven men for whom remains have already been recovered.
“The victims we recovered previously were all dismembered so it is a job for the pathologist and anthropologist to match the remains up,” he said.
Search to be suspended for the weekend
Idsinga said that about 20 people helped scour the ravine yesterday and a dozen or so are back at it today.
He said that the search will be suspended for the weekend but will resume on Tuesday, after the completion of the post-mortem examination on the remains.
Idsinga said that he doesn’t know how deep investigators will have to dig and therefore can’t say how long the search will take but is confident it will last until at least the end of next week.
“They dig and then they send the dogs through and if the dogs continue to show signs of decomposition they will dig again.” he said. “They will keep digging until those dogs aren’t reacting anymore.”
McArthur was initially charged on Jan. 18 in connection with the deaths of Andrew Kinsman and Selim Esen, who had disappeared from Toronto’s gay village last summer.
He was then subsequently charged in the deaths of six other men, most of whom also had ties to the gay village.
To date, police have found remains belonging to seven of the men, but are yet to locate the remains of an eighth alleged victim –Majeed Kayhan.
Idsinga said that the “best-case scenario” is that the remains recovered this week belong to men who have already been identified but he said that he couldn’t rule out the possibility that they could belong to another person or persons who investigators are not aware of.
“Hopefully it doesn’t come to that,” he said.
