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Bruce McArthur /// Toronto’s Missing Men /// Part 1 /// 191

November 16, 2023 / 56:38

This episode covers the disappearances of men from Toronto's gay village, focusing on Andrew Kinsman, Salim Asin, and Bruce MacArthur's involvement. Key discussions include the formation of task forces Project Houston and Project Prism, the community's response, and the investigation into MacArthur.

The episode begins with the story of Andrew Kinsman, who went missing shortly after Toronto's Pride Parade in 2017. His friends and family were active in searching for him, leading to increased media attention.

Next, the hosts discuss the earlier disappearances of men like Salim Asin and the police's initial dismissals of their cases. The community's growing concern over the missing persons led to the establishment of Project Prism.

Bruce MacArthur, a landscaper with ties to some of the missing men, becomes a person of interest. The hosts detail his past, including a violent incident and his eventual arrest in 2018.

The episode concludes with the police discovering dismembered remains linked to MacArthur, raising questions about the number of victims and the investigation's future.

TLDR

The episode discusses the disappearances of men from Toronto's gay village and Bruce MacArthur's connection to the cases.

Episode

56:38
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click on the Donate button and that's enough of the business everybody gather around grab a chair grab a beer let's
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talk some true crime [Music] w when we first learned that Andrew was missing on June the 26 last year we were
00:04:09
shocked we have spent the last 7 months putting up posters searching for him with his friends with his co-workers and
00:04:17
even complete strangers who cared enough to help find him through this we have come to know Andrew even better he was
00:04:26
well known in his community he was a hard worker and he was loved by all we looked for him in the heat in the rain
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and in the snow December 9 was the last day that Karen and I searched for him it
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was snowing yesterday morning I received a call from detective Dave Dickinson telling me that they made an
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arrest I was in shock all I remember is saying oh my God oh my God I asked only one question did they find his
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body the answer was no I would like to thank Andrew's friends and his co-workers for keeping his name in the
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media and the media for keeping his face in the public eye and the police for all
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their hard work I mean you always have hope that you know he's going to be found you know alive somewhere CU
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there's medical issues there's things that can happen I mean you you that's the hard part when someone's missing is
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you live with hope and you live with despair like you hope that they're going to be found but you despair that they'll
00:05:28
never be and you know at least now there is a conclusion to Andrew's [Music] story Toronto Canada late
00:05:51
2010 Mr Abdul basar fi is a 42-year-old man born in Afghanistan and at some point in this
00:06:00
man's life he had immigrated to Canada from Iran now he went by the name of basur now basur is a Muslim man a father
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and a husband and his family is Muslim as well he lived with his wife and two daughters baser back in 2010 worked as
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an assistant machine operator at a local printing company he would often tell his family
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that he was working 12-hour days now now unfortunately basur was a closeted man I
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can't speak to every day but from the way it sounds most days basur was not actually working 12-hour days he would
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go to work and then he would go to bars or to bath houses after work now on December 29th 2010 basser called home
00:06:53
late in the evening and said that he would be home very very late that night he had stated that he had worked a long
00:07:00
day and he was going to go out with a friend from work after he was done buter did not return home that night nor did
00:07:09
he return the next day or the day after now some time went by and his family was
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seeking answers as to where he could be and why he did not return home so trying
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to determine why his family did some snooping and they accessed his computer well they were shocked when they
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discovered that basur had been secretly going to bath houses in the gay Village area in
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Toronto he had also been on several gay dating websites and apps with names such
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as silver daddies and Bear 411 and he was also going to different gay bars or at at least gay friendly bars right yes
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and so you know a relative would later tell news outlets that basser had hid that he was gay from his family um and
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then when when his family went to police to report him as a missing person right
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now they told the officers what they had found on basser's computer and what they
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had learned about him since he had disappeared after hearing all of this officers suggested that basur had
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probably just left running off to start a new life right basser's family shared this belief in fact some sometime
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after B's wife made it official and divorced him she was angry with him she actually thought that um he had
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abandoned her and their two young daughters so police were convinced that he had just decided to up and leave and
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start another life and the family was pretty convinced of this as well so unfortunately we have this man who goes
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missing but no one's really looking for basser but Polie have kind of a problem on their hands because there's several
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men that have been to these bars in this gay Village that have gone missing no because almost 4 months earlier in
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September of 2010 and I I do have to make an apology before okay to all the listeners
00:09:15
out there and to uh everyone you don't have to apologize the show anyone anyone in the universe I'm apologizing to you
00:09:23
but uh most people that have followed this show for a good amount of time know that this is not the place that you go
00:09:30
to to get a uh pronunciation lesson lesson you didn't minor and that no and actually I frequently get pronunciation
00:09:39
lessons from uh emailers so um but uh this this case holds a lot of tricky names so I'm going to give it my best
00:09:49
shot give it my 100% effort here well we're going to need you to give it 110% today so here we go um this man age 40
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his name is scander navaratna okay uh he was reported missing in early September of 2010 he
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was known to frequent Toronto's gay Village specifically Church Street and Welsley street now he was better known
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to his fan his friends as scanda okay and he was last seen at a bar called zippers scanda was a regular there he
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liked to go to zippers and shoot uh he went to the bar on Sunday September 5th and was last seen leaving
00:10:35
in the early morning hours of September 6th with a man on his arm the 6th was a holiday so late night partying should be
00:10:44
expected mhm now the man he left with well this is troubling because one thing that we should point out here is that
00:10:54
with any with any bars you typically have regulars yeah okay okay and I I actually from hearing interviews and
00:11:02
reading what Witnesses have stated in these different accounts here in this specific case that we're discussing
00:11:09
today it seems like the These Bars that we're talking about had an even higher number of regulars yeah that they would
00:11:18
they would see time and time again very few times would you see you know let's call it a stranger walking into one of
00:11:26
these bars now the troubling thing here is that scanda is last seen with a man in the early morning hours of Monday
00:11:34
September 6th leaving this bar this zippers bar what it makes it a little more scary that people are going missing
00:11:41
when these bars are filled with regulars so then you have to start assuming on some level that the people that are
00:11:47
going missing are going missing because of a regular well in discussing the man that scanda was last seen with the
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troubling thing the biggest troubling thing is people could not identify this man the the bartender said he didn't
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know who this man was and actually the thought amongst those that were interviewed is that the two scanda and
00:12:07
this Unknown man that they were not in any kind of a relationship but the two had probably met that night right and
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then we see something similar with this disappearance that we saw when we spoke about basur scanda was a free-spirited
00:12:24
man he would often take off and go out of town for a night or to very regularly right so there was this
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assumption here of course that that when he didn't show up for a day or two that
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this scanda had just gone somewhere you know he went off on one of his his one one of his adventures let's say the
00:12:47
other thought too was some people had wondered if there was a chance that scanda had fallen in love with someone
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maybe even the man that he was last seen with leaving zippers and maybe the two had run away together then about 2 years
00:13:01
after basur and scano missing this is now October 14th 2012 Majid Kahan who lives in Toronto he
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is reported missing now this man is 58 years old at the time that he's reported missing kaian is also a member of
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Toronto's gay village community The Disappearance of Majid was different in the sense that no one that police spoke
00:13:26
with said that he would take off for any reason at all so okay this this is unsettling right right the opposite mhm
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yeah so now we have three adult males have gone missing in the course of a about a two-year time frame now let's
00:13:43
say basur didn't take off and decided you know didn't take off to abandon his family now unfortunately you know from
00:13:51
the outside looking in that's what that looks like you know when you see that when you see the this man has things on
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his computer uh and this whole life that no one seems to have known anything about with his
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family that's what it looks like when you are on the outside looking in right but if he didn't take off on his own
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then we have three men all 42 years of age or older similar ethnic backgrounds M all known to have been frequenting gay
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bars so plenty in common here when you look at this from a victimology aspect could there be something going on in
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this area in this community so police set up a task force to look into these disappearances they called the task
00:14:36
force project Houston uh this was set up in 2012 why do they call that you know that's the
00:14:43
one thing I've always wondered about with these task force because sometimes I find that the name has some kind of
00:14:49
relevance right um maybe they had something you know that would make them come up with the name project Houston if
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I were involved in a task force I would would want the job of naming the task force cuz there's always some like
00:15:02
interesting name but so project Houston however set up in 2012 the the task force only lasted
00:15:11
about 18 months this was closed when investigators on the task force could find no evidence leading them to the
00:15:18
whereabouts of these three gentlemen or evidence to suggest that the cases were linked in any way other than the
00:15:26
commonalities that we have just pointed out here it could have been as simple as there
00:15:31
was a rumor that one of the guys went to Houston mhm and maybe that's why they named it such a weird name for this case
00:15:38
well the other thing that I want to point out here too and I don't want anybody jumping my back here I'm I'm the
00:15:44
most well-rounded individual you will ever meet I'm a man of the people but here's one a lot of round edges here's
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one thing I want to point out from a law enforcement perspective okay when they're looking at a case like this when
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you when we're talking to potential victims families and we say potential victims families because we have three
00:16:05
different scenarios one where a man appears that he may have just taken off and left right two a man that was known
00:16:12
to leave for short periods of time but return and then another man that's the complete opposite that would never leave
00:16:18
for any reason at all right without telling people right so so we may only have two victims here or one victim here
00:16:26
we we the but we don't know if we have victims yet because we have no bodies right and jumping off the page here we
00:16:32
really only have one person that looks like he is somewhere that he shouldn't be or where he would not be expected to
00:16:38
be right so from a law enforcement perspective even if even if all three of these men were endangered or if they had
00:16:47
met with Foul Play somehow you have a situation where you have to question it is there possibility of Foul Play
00:16:54
involved in any of the disappearances of these men and I bring up that thought thought of a high-risk lifestyle because
00:17:01
that would be on my mind if I were law enforcement talking about these cases if I were involved in task force uh project
00:17:09
Houston you know and what I mean by that is it doesn't have anything to do with being a man or a woman or homosexual or
00:17:15
heterosexual but when you have individuals that are reported by friends and family to believe to
00:17:22
have having numerous casual encounters with different people then that is a bit of a high-risk
00:17:31
lifestyle that's exposing yourself to people that your friends don't know that your family don't know that that you may
00:17:37
be spending an evening with or some time with and and the reason why it's high risk you don't know them either you
00:17:45
don't you don't know much about them either you know if if I meet you captain in a bar you we're shooting pool we're
00:17:51
having a good time and I've never seen you before did did you find me on Silver Daddies no I found you in the bar I I
00:17:58
was shooting a game of pool I challenged you to a a game of pool and and what I know about you if I decide to leave with
00:18:05
you or if I decide to invite you somewhere with me it's getting a little little uncomfortable here but you see
00:18:11
what I'm saying I only know what you've told me about yourself which could all be complete lies yeah I think the risk
00:18:19
the risky Behavior you're talking about is you know it's you're not going home every night and watching Netflix I mean
00:18:25
if you're going out to a bar uh you know more than four or five times a week then
00:18:31
you're putting yourself at more of a risk if you're meeting people at bars and then going back to their house
00:18:36
you're putting yourself at risk if you're meeting people on websites or dating apps then you're putting yourself
00:18:42
at risk um so and and especially now you know I have a lot of single friends that
00:18:48
are on the Tinder and um what's the other one Bumble uh these dating apps and they're going on sometimes two or
00:18:57
three dates in a day yeah I haven't had a date in 3 years but but they're going on because I'm not going to take the
00:19:05
risk well there's danger in everything that we do captain and I you know I don't want to ruin anybody's party but
00:19:11
you can tell by the captain intros wouldn't be the first party that you ruined that I'm super excited about St
00:19:17
Patrick's Day but you know people go out and celebrate you got to be careful and
00:19:22
I tell you what one thing that is strange you know this this is strange that my brain ticks this way
00:19:28
but you know what was it last weekend or the weekend before was the Arnold Classic comes to Columbus and
00:19:35
unfortunately we've had two cases that we've talked about on our show where we've had College age men or well men in
00:19:44
their late 20s go missing during the weekend of the Arnold challenge yeah I think the Arnold is the number two human
00:19:52
trafficking event in the world what's the first one Super Bowl Super Bowl yeah yeah uh so so you know I me and some of
00:20:00
my friends uh and we have a a joke but in all seriousness we we are serious about this because we will say oh we
00:20:09
don't go downtown during the Arnold Classic well and it's getting pretty sad because that's becoming an issue in
00:20:15
every bar well let's shift gears here for a bit we just discussed the closing of project Houston but one of the
00:20:21
biggest aspects of this case is something called project prism so we're going to have to fast forward a bit
00:20:29
because in August of 2017 that is when project prism is formed to investigate the disappearances
00:20:36
of a couple of men this is amid pressure from the public now while project prism
00:20:42
is going to be a big aspect of this case many believe and rightfully so that the
00:20:47
Catalyst for project prism well was something that was a major change and now we talked about the three men who
00:20:56
had gone missing in the 2-year time frame from 2010 to to late 2012 but in the time after those
00:21:05
disappearances and leading up to 2017 men continue to go missing these would be men believed to frequent
00:21:12
Toronto's gay Village then on April 20th of 2017 a man by the name of Salim Asen he is 44 years old he lives in
00:21:24
Toronto he is reported missing now a little background in Asin came to Canada from Turkey around 3
00:21:33
years before he went missing and he went to Canada for a relationship some of his
00:21:39
friends say that that as Sin he had struggled with addiction which he was very open about
00:21:47
you know he didn't hide this uh addiction problem that he had right but he also was in a relationship that was
00:21:55
was often abusive yeah that sad now in the months leading up to his disappearance he was doing much better
00:22:02
he was winning his battle over his addiction and he was staying away from his on and off again boyfriend the one
00:22:09
that is responsible for the often abusive relationship as Sin was last seen on April 14th
00:22:17
2017 this was close to his apartment building near blor Street and Jarvis Street police were they were treating
00:22:26
his disappearance as suspicious oh yeah and you would kind of wonder if he's in an abusive relationship is that person
00:22:34
responsible for him going missing yes major red flag there now in June of 2017 here's here's what I think is a big
00:22:43
thing that changed in these cases and it might be the victimology because where we have a lot
00:22:51
of guys who we described they were described by family and friends or people of the community as men who quote
00:22:57
quote are people on the margins of Canadian Society mhm whose disappearances attracted little public
00:23:05
attention well now in 2017 in June 28th there's a man named Andrew Kinsman who lives in Toronto he's
00:23:16
reported missing he was last seen alive on June 26th Andrew was 49 years old he was a
00:23:25
lgbqt activist and a former bartender in Toronto who had many many friends when he went missing so his friends well they
00:23:36
took notice that he was gone and it's reported that Andrew suddenly went missing the day after Toronto's gay
00:23:43
pride parade and as we said his friends took notice very quickly and so did the police actually leading into today's
00:23:51
story The ver the voices that you heard there over top of the captain's always fantastic music those two ladies are
00:23:59
Andrew's sisters so while some of the other men's disappearances received little attention Andrew kinsman's on the
00:24:07
other hand had search parties and scores of friends looking for him when he went
00:24:11
missing looking into Andrew's background uh he was a superintendent and a long-term volunteer at the Toronto
00:24:20
people with AIDS Foundation mhm friends and family actually figured pretty quickly that the man must have just they
00:24:27
they figured that he was is dead Okay shortly after he went missing because um after he went missing they they went to
00:24:34
his apartment they they got gained access somehow into his apartment just two days after he went missing finding
00:24:41
his cat finding Andrew's cat was left alone in his apartment and Andrew is a person that is described by all that I
00:24:50
could find as someone that was extremely responsible he was a very responsible man and one thing that he certainly
00:24:57
would would not do is to neglect his job duties as a superintendent or neglect his cat yeah so it's because of the
00:25:05
disappearances of Salim Asin and Andrew Kinsman that the police decided to start
00:25:11
up another investigation and task force and this time the investigation is called project prism looking into the
00:25:18
disappearances of these two men and both of these disappearances considered by family and police as suspicious in
00:25:26
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T-Mobile in Verizon May 2023 all right Cheers Cheers Captain so where we left off we had three guys that
00:27:45
went missing from the gay Village in Toronto and so they set up a task force called project Houston mhm and then they
00:27:53
closed that project down and then they set up a new project project because we had another two guys that went missing
00:28:00
and they called that project prism yeah so I want to make sure that we are painting the right picture here for
00:28:06
everyone so most of us probably live in some sort of big city or even if you're not in the big city you might travel
00:28:14
there for shopping or going out for coffee or just hanging out with friends so figure this that over the course of
00:28:21
about 8 years every time you venture into that big city when you're going to meet up with some of your friends or
00:28:28
whatever every time you go there there is a missing flyer taped to a lamp post yeah on the corners at intersections and
00:28:36
then a year later there's still a missing flyer tape to the lamp post on those Corners at the same intersections
00:28:42
only this time it's a different man's face on the flyer with a different name and a new phone number to call MH and
00:28:49
then the next time you go for coffee the same thing but again a different man different name well and every time you
00:28:54
go to a bar you kind of hear hey um this guy was at this bar and then he left with somebody and he's never been seen
00:29:03
again well that's what people in Toronto were seeing around this time and you don't have to you know you only have to
00:29:09
be in the big city a few times and see these different missing Flyers to know there's something going on here you
00:29:15
don't even have to be part of the gay community or frequent those bars uh to know that something is going on and it
00:29:21
ain't right so we talked briefly about the two task force but there is going to be one major breakthrough and that will
00:29:30
be the difference between that of project Houston and that of project prism this big breakthrough is one of
00:29:37
the cases that we are looking at in Project prism and this case is going to produce a potential suspect and even
00:29:44
better this might even suggest that the three cases listed as part of of that project that there may be more in common
00:29:54
with these cases than just men of similar ages going to the same places or living similar Lifestyles they're
00:30:00
possibly linked together because yes one can quickly start to find things in common from the cases in Project Houston
00:30:07
and then the cases in Project prism but not only May the victimology be similar but we have one common thread here and
00:30:14
that Common Thread is a man by the name of Bruce MacArthur right but what is his
00:30:19
tie going to be to these gentlemen that went missing well it appears that there is some evidence to suggest that Bruce
00:30:25
MacArthur had ties to two of the men on our missing men list okay so one of those men was
00:30:33
scanda and then the other is Andrew Kinsman so friends of scanda would say that MacArthur employed and had some
00:30:44
kind of sexual relationship with scander from 1999 until 2008 so the relationship
00:30:52
ending about 2 years before scanda goes missing yeah that's a long relationship later we would learn that MacArthur's
00:30:59
Facebook profile also showed that he was friends with scanda some others were saying that Andrew Kinsman had some type
00:31:08
of romantic relationship with mathur for an unknown amount of time mhm and again
00:31:15
like we said they were using dating websites such as silver silver daddy Silver Daddies silver daddies and the
00:31:24
other one was Bare 411 be 411 but I think there was a lot more um websites or apps being used amongst because now
00:31:33
we're talking about a large group of people you know where we started off with one missing man we're we're now
00:31:40
talking about we have a suspect and plus five missing men that we've discussed there may be more that we've not
00:31:46
discussed so we're starting to talk about a large pool of people mhm so who is this Bruce McArthur guy so MacArthur
00:31:52
grew up in Katha Lakes this is northeast of Toronto mhm and he married his wife Janice in the mid 1980s Janice yep and
00:32:03
they resided in Ashawa now the couple they have a son and a daughter and then later of course grandchildren right so
00:32:12
obviously at some point he's living as a heterosexual male he gets married he has
00:32:17
kids they have kids now he's a grandfather but now he is going on dates with men well we haven't quite got there
00:32:25
yet um so brce MacArthur faced financial difficulties in the mid to late 90s and
00:32:31
then eventually declared bankruptcy in 1999 and then after being estranged from his wife MacArthur began socializing
00:32:40
with members of Toronto's gay community and then as of 2018 Bruce MacArthur worked as a self-employed landscape
00:32:50
Gardener and in 2018 he's going to be living in Thorn Cliffe Park uh it's Central East Toronto mhm yeah he lived
00:32:59
there alone now let's go back to 2001 because in 2001 Bruce MacArthur well he was accused of assault and let's go
00:33:08
through this shall we mhm so we do not have the victim's name here the victim's name is was not shared nor is it
00:33:15
necessary for you know to tell about MacArthur's past but what was presented and what was heard at the trial is that
00:33:24
MacArthur and the victim they knew other but they didn't have like a a personal relationship or I I wouldn't
00:33:32
even say that they were they were friends according to documents they knew each other just enough to say hello say
00:33:39
hello if they saw each other on the street or in a barh some reports state that the victim
00:33:46
was a quote male Hustler uh which could be true we can't say for certain but I what does that mean male Hustler um well
00:33:56
we have to to be clear here we're going off of a court document that states that
00:34:00
this man may have been the victim may have been a male Hustler now the court document does not go on to Define what
00:34:08
they believe a male Hustler to be so I will let everybody else out there use their imagination and you can decide
00:34:15
what you think they mean by that so and the reason why I say it in that way Captain is because that could be true it
00:34:22
could it could not be true MH who knows um but the story goes something like this now it's Halloween it's Halloween
00:34:30
night so October 31st 2001 MacArthur in this man they go back to the man's house
00:34:38
and the victim allowed mathur into his apartment according to both parties no sexual encounter took place that day in
00:34:46
fact the reason for the two men going to the apartment was this the victim wanted
00:34:51
to show MacArthur his Halloween costume mhm well what the man did not know is MacArthur had concealed a lead pipe and
00:35:01
once inside the apartment when the man had his back turn to Bruce MacArthur Bruce pulled out the pipe and hit the
00:35:08
man multiple times in the head W now good for the victim because he was able to uh quickly defend himself at the best
00:35:18
that he could and I don't want to make this sound any less brutal than it truly was this man was badly and savagely
00:35:26
attacked by Bruce yeah for some reason uh and we can get into this if you have any thoughts on the matter Captain but
00:35:34
after the attack Bruce the attacker to be clear Bruce went to Police Headquarters almost
00:35:41
immediately afterward reporting that he had hurt someone the incident had traumatized the victim he he his
00:35:49
injuries required that he go to the hospital and he received stitches for his injuries okay so let's go back to
00:35:56
the this whole idea that they're in his apartment to show a Halloween costume to
00:36:01
Bruce mhm Bruce pulls out a lead pipe we don't think that there was any argument
00:36:06
that we know of and Bruce attacks this man there was no argument this was a sneak attack right and then Bruce goes
00:36:16
to law enforcement and says hey I just attacked somebody yeah interesting and so then what does
00:36:22
law enforcement do well this thing's going to go to court and Bruce actually gets a chance to speak to the judge on
00:36:30
the matter in which MacArthur said he did not know why he attacked the victim he he also said that he just wanted let
00:36:38
me tell you why why cuz use use a piece of [ __ ] who who does that uh yeah I don't know I don't know why I attacked
00:36:48
him how about you start with why did you have a lead pipe yeah you know okay keep going well
00:36:55
that that's the thing you don't just happen to have a lead pipe right you have you you brought that with you to
00:37:02
the man's apartment anyway MacArthur told the court that he just wanted to apologize to the court for what had
00:37:09
happened that his life had been kind of a mess in the last year and a half leading up to this and knowing what's
00:37:15
going to happen and what's happened to him uh was just a mess he continued he also said that he would like to
00:37:22
apologize to the victim I stating I wouldn't know what to say other than I'm sorry for all the pain and anger I have
00:37:29
caused him so the crown and the defense put forward a joint submission on sentencing in which Bruce MacArthur
00:37:38
would spend spend one year under house arrest followed by a curfew for 6 months and then three years probation that's
00:37:47
just not enough well hang on MacArthur was also barred from a specific area that included Toronto's gay village
00:37:54
where the crown indicated that MacArthur could come into contact with male sex workers the crowns words and quote from
00:38:02
my perspective it's in the best interest to keep him meaning Bruce MacArthur out
00:38:08
of the area where he's more likely than not to come into be enticed by male prostitutes another condition of
00:38:17
MacArthur's sentence included MacArthur being prohibited from taking illicit drugs specifically mentioned were
00:38:23
poppers and this information was taken from an article in the star where they go on to mention that poppers are a
00:38:31
chemical compound which can be inhaled prior to sex and is a popular drug now he was also ordered to seek
00:38:41
counseling for mental health issues particularly for Anger Management MacArthur was prohibited from having any
00:38:48
firearms for at least 10 years and because assault causing bodily harm is what is called a primary designated
00:38:57
offense the judge was required to make a DNA order now the DNA order allowed uh bodily substance samples to be taken
00:39:06
from the offender this is Bruce MacArthur typically through a mouth swab to be added to a database this just
00:39:14
seems like a pretty light sentence to me for taking a lead pipe and attacking somebody and I think because this
00:39:22
individual was a sex worker or they assum is a sex worker thought to be yeah that um that the sentence is lighter
00:39:31
because of it well okay so you're exactly right captain and um the thing here is what I the way that I think this
00:39:39
went down and what what you see within this sentence to me is a lot of um precautionary strategies being taken
00:39:50
against this man yeah but you know what would make the community safer putting this guy behind bars but I think here's
00:39:57
where the problem with that lies with the court system okay so one you have an offender who turned himself in
00:40:05
immediately after the attack M so the court is going to look at that in a different way than if they would have
00:40:11
had to Manhunt this guy and track him down and arrest him and so not only did he turn himself in but he's also
00:40:18
pleading guilty the problem that you also have here and this is a suspicion of mine I can't say this with 100%
00:40:25
certainty mhm my guess is that the victim did not care to partake in the court proceedings possibly not yeah and
00:40:34
well what I do know about the victim is that the victim never filed an impact statement so uh I'm guessing that the
00:40:41
victim probably had very little to do with the actual Prosecuting of Bruce MacArthur right so the victim is not
00:40:49
shouting throw in jail then well here's the thing you you have two things going on you have a you have a trial where you
00:40:59
have the offender who's saying look I did this I'm guilty and I turned myself in and then you have the what we would
00:41:05
call the states case here in the in the United States the states case would be we don't have a victim to present to you
00:41:12
to say this is what happened right so that's why I think the S the sentence seems a little light however what I
00:41:19
wonder about and and what I kind of applaud the judge in the court system here for doing is that I see a lot of
00:41:28
precautionary attempts here at at hey we believe this guy could be pretty violent
00:41:33
we don't understand what went down we don't have a victim to speak with he doesn't really understand it right or at
00:41:39
least what he's claiming is he doesn't understand why it maybe we just need to make sure that a his DNA is in the
00:41:46
system because that's a huge deterrent and I don't care what anybody says out there I will argue that until the what
00:41:52
is till the cows come home where were the cows but anyway I will argue that till the cows come home and then B this
00:41:59
man can't hold any firearms for at least 10 years we want him to go to anger management classes so there's a lot of
00:42:05
precautionary things going on here also we don't want him to be in an area or around people that we identify that
00:42:12
would fall into play with his victim you know that that line up with his victim yeah that's the scary thing about this
00:42:19
though hey we want you to stay out of this area I mean to me that's basically stating to the community that this guy
00:42:26
is um is a Potential Threat down the line yeah he's either somebody that just needs a little bit of help or is a
00:42:33
threatening individual now that we know a little bit more about Bruce MacArthur let's fill in some of our timeline here
00:42:40
so it was late June 2017 when Andrew Kinsman was last seen and then reported missing it was August of that same year
00:42:49
when project prism was formed now in September of 2017 this is this is interesting here
00:42:57
this is when police identify Bruce MacArthur whom we just discussed as a person of possible interest in the
00:43:05
connection uh with Andrew kinsman's disappearance right now this is not announced at this time to the public
00:43:12
this is simply just a part of their investigation then in October of 2017 police began to follow Bruce MacArthur
00:43:21
that's right he is put under surveillance good he's being followed and I don't have the details of such but
00:43:28
this is what we've seen we've seen this type of activity from police it's almost
00:43:33
certainly Around the Clock surveillance MH uh so what does that mean that means they think this dude is up to something
00:43:40
terrible and if we follow him long enough we might be able to catch him in the act or catch him in the act of
00:43:48
breaking some kind of law so we can lock him up right but we have these individuals in this community that Bruce
00:43:55
has been a part of um and he had a vicious attack against somebody from this community and now I
00:44:04
mean you know your thoughts have to be on some level when you're looking for these uh Missing men that when you come
00:44:12
across uh Bruce MacArthur and then you figure out what he did what the crime he did to be in the system MH you start you
00:44:22
this be kind of a light bulb moment right this could be our guy of course well in December this is December 5th of
00:44:29
2017 police warned members of Toronto's gay community to be um weary of dating apps to stay away from dating apps and
00:44:39
then 3 days later on the 8th of December this is a bit of a strange move and we'll get into this more later but the
00:44:46
police say that there is no reason to believe that the disappearances in the two different task force cases are
00:44:55
related meaning the Disappearance in relation to um project Houston which was three missing men right and then the two
00:45:03
missing person's cases in Project prism they're announcing to the public that there is no reason for anyone to believe
00:45:09
that these disappearances are connected to one another that's interesting but they're
00:45:15
saying don't use these dating apps you know that there's some guy out there right he's on what is Silver Daddies mhm
00:45:24
and he he gets no likes on his photos right everybody's swiping him left right and he gets a date and he's
00:45:33
excited with a handsome gentleman they're supposed to go to the gay Village on Friday night but on Thursday
00:45:41
night he turns on his radio right he drives on the radio Thursday night and the police are like hey knock it off
00:45:47
with these dating apps don't use them we got people going missing and we think they're connected with possibly dating
00:45:53
websites or a dating app what do you do do you go on the date or do you risk it no here's what you do
00:46:04
I'll tell you what you do okay you postpone the date for at least a week maybe a week and a half and during the
00:46:10
meantime you stalk this gentleman online find out everything you can about him bring some pepper spray now in all
00:46:18
seriousness um me I'm a gut feeling guy and and throughout my life I've gotten some gut feelings that just tell me not
00:46:24
to do something for no reason at all I follow that gut I don't do it now anybody that chooses to use dating apps
00:46:32
or you know more power to you there's nothing wrong with it there's a lot of good people meeting other good people
00:46:37
that way tell somebody where you're going bring a friend along for the first encounter there are many different
00:46:43
things that you can do go to a place where you know a lot of other people you know hey you want you want to go here
00:46:49
and hang out where I know other people uh my friends will text me and say I think it happens Saturday hey I'm going
00:46:55
to meet this guy at whatever time right mhm uh I'm a horrible person cuz I start
00:47:01
making serial killer jokes oh there you go that that always makes everybody feel
00:47:06
happy so anyway in December we have the police warning people not to use these dating apps we also have PE the police
00:47:13
saying that the disappearances between the two projects while they might be connected within each other they're not
00:47:19
connected to the other and then this happened [Music] this morning at approximately 10:25 a.m.
00:47:35
police arrested 66-year-old Bruce MacArthur of the city of Toronto he is self-employed as a landscaper using the
00:47:45
company named artistic design and he lives in the Thorncliffe Park area he has been charged with two counts of
00:47:53
first-degree murder in relation to Mr Kinsman and Mr Essen we believe he is responsible for
00:48:00
the deaths of Mr Essen and Mr Kinsman and we believe he's responsible for the deaths of other men who have yet to be
00:48:08
identified in other words we believe there are other victims as of right now interviews are
00:48:16
taking place and police have secured five properties four in Toronto and one in Mok connected to Bruce MacArthur in
00:48:25
an effort to further investigate these occurrences we have not yet found the bodies uh we're actively looking for
00:48:33
them uh we're conducting these search warrants in efforts to locate the bodies but at this point in time no we have not
00:48:38
located them I'm well aware of the difficulty of Prosecuting people without recovering the bodies but in this case
00:48:44
we believe we have strong enough evidence where we can do exactly that all right so now we're saying or
00:48:55
law enforcement is saying we think at least these two um the two victims that are connected with project prism are
00:49:03
connected so the way that this is being reported at this time is that on January
00:49:09
17 2018 investigators searched several properties all linked to Bruce MacArthur including his residence and a property
00:49:18
where he was known to store supplies evidence at either one or both of these locations is found seems to be good
00:49:26
enough to tie Bruce MacArthur uh to the deaths of kinman and as Sin now at this time at the time of the arrest as you
00:49:38
heard on January 18th 2018 they have no bodies yet uh but regardless MacArthur is arrested and charged with two counts
00:49:48
of first-degree murder now a little more clarity on the subject because one question that I find presented often it
00:49:55
seems uh this to be a big one is how and when did this guy get on the police's radar
00:50:02
right right because here we have them saying he's linked to two cases via the charges we just discussed but there is
00:50:09
certainly a much longer relationship between Bruce and a man that disappeared Bruce
00:50:15
employed scanda mhm and uh they had a romantic relationship so when and why did Bruce appear on the police's radar
00:50:25
now it's Toronto police have not said exactly how long Bruce MacArthur had been on their radar they have said that
00:50:31
the charges were laid out after months of probing now according to information told to the local media by employees at
00:50:40
a place called Dom's Auto Parts shop well a source says investigators had been on to Bruce MacArthur since at
00:50:48
least the fall of 2017 in fact the owner of the shop said police officers arrived in late SE
00:50:55
September this was because they there were suspicious about a vehicle um they asked for and began watching
00:51:03
surveillance video of Bruce MacArthur selling his Dodge Caravan to the shop MH after studying the tape the police then
00:51:11
seized the old rusted maroon Dodge Caravan sold by MacArthur and they had it towed away there's always a creeper
00:51:18
van now my guess is there must have been something in that van because then they
00:51:24
start that's when they start the follow Bruce MacArthur around and then listen to this new story and listen close
00:51:30
because there's a lot in [Music] there I'm ma ran griel we're live outside of alleged serial killer Bruce
00:51:44
MacArthur's apartment tonight in East Toronto now tonight a police Source confirms with us that back on January
00:51:51
18th they watched a young man walk into the 19th floor of MacArthur's apartment that is when officers moved in rushing
00:52:00
the apartment kicking down the door inside they found that young man handcuffed to the alleged serial
00:52:07
Killer's bed now our police Source says that young man made it out safe though tonight we're learning more about
00:52:12
another man whose fate is still unclear he was just a lovely person and he's going to be missed investigators
00:52:21
believe 47-year-old Dean lisowick was killed sometime between May 2016 in July 2017 no one ever reported him missing
00:52:29
however Lisa Wick was a regular at the Scott mission in Toronto for more than a decade staff tell me the last time he
00:52:35
was there was in April of 2016 I spoke with a longtime worker at the mission today who knew lisowick and shared her
00:52:42
colleagues memories of him a memory of a man they say is important to share he would often give to clients out of his
00:52:50
own so if he realized that somebody needed shelter he would put it upon himself self that person needs it more
00:52:56
than me and he would give up his bed and very generous out of just whatever he had whether it was change or an item of
00:53:02
clothing he would often be known just to pass that on to other clients or residents MacArthur is charged with the
00:53:09
murder of five men Andrew Kinsman selem Essen Majid Kahan suou Mash Moody and Dean lisowick yesterday we told you that
00:53:17
police have Unearthed the dismembered remains of at least three unidentified individuals from multiple large Planters
00:53:24
from some of the 30 properties they're sifting through on January 21st City News
00:53:31
captured police removing this large heavy planter from the property of Ron Smith and Karen Frasier today I spoke on
00:53:38
the phone with Smith he says police have been very professional while conducting
00:53:42
their investigation on the couple's leide property and his heart goes out to the victims and their families though
00:53:49
being removed from their homes with no return date in sight has been difficult what an upheaval you have to get out of
00:53:56
your house you have to get out now this is serious and bye-bye so we grabbed a couple of things left and it's been a
00:54:04
shambles ever since it's an allate reality you're waking up we we're now on our second group of of friends who
00:54:10
who've been good enough to be able to keep us um we aren't that far away so what we do is every now and then we
00:54:16
drive by just to check in to see what it looks like and it really is it's very surreal now Smith adds that MacArthur
00:54:26
worked on his property for about 10 years he'd do some free work there in turn they let MacArthur store some of
00:54:32
his equipment on their leide property in the garage at their home now tonight the
00:54:37
folks over at Scott Mission also confirm with me that police came and interviewed
00:54:41
them just before we went in there today they were asking if anyone else who uses
00:54:45
the mission may have ties to Bruce MacArthur tonight the investigation still continues it's a story we'll be
00:54:51
keeping a close eye on in the days to come [Music] so just to be clear what they stated
00:55:05
that they were following Bruce they were running surveillance on him MH uh a male
00:55:11
goes into his apartment they decide to go into the apartment make a rest I think they were
00:55:18
worried what would happen to this individual when they get in there this individual is handcuffed yes and that's
00:55:25
a whole another big ball of yarn that we're going to have to unravel on tomorrow's show much more to get to in
00:55:31
this case we'll talk about that tomorrow we'll see you in the garage until then be good be kind and don't
00:55:37
[Music] [Applause] litter [Music] Angie's List is now Angie and we've heard a lot of theories about why I
00:56:10
thought it was an Eco move few your worse less paper no it was so you could say it faster no it's to be more iconic
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must be a tech thing but those aren't quite right it's because now you can compare upfront prices book a Sur
00:56:25
instantly and even get your project handled from start to finish sounds easy it is and it makes us so much more than
00:56:31
just a list get started at angie.com that's ngi or download the app today

Badges

This episode stands out for the following:

  • 90
    Biggest twist
  • 85
    Most intense
  • 80
    Most shocking
  • 80
    Most unpredictable

Episode Highlights

  • The Search for Andrew
    A family's seven-month search for Andrew, who went missing, reveals the community's love for him.
    “He was well known in his community, a hard worker, and loved by all.”
    @ 04m 28s
    November 16, 2023
  • The Disappearance of Basur
    Basur, a closeted man, goes missing after a night out, leading to shocking family discoveries.
    “His family discovered he had been secretly going to bathhouses.”
    @ 07m 29s
    November 16, 2023
  • Project Houston
    A task force is set up to investigate the disappearances of three men from Toronto's gay village.
    “Could there be something going on in this area in this community?”
    @ 14m 29s
    November 16, 2023
  • Andrew Kinsman's Disappearance
    Andrew went missing the day after Toronto's gay pride parade, prompting immediate concern from friends and family.
    “His friends took notice very quickly.”
    @ 23m 43s
    November 16, 2023
  • Project Prism Investigation
    The police launched Project Prism to investigate the disappearances of Andrew Kinsman and Salim Asin, considering them suspicious.
    “Both of these disappearances considered by family and police as suspicious in nature.”
    @ 25m 22s
    November 16, 2023
  • Bruce MacArthur's Background
    Bruce MacArthur, a self-employed landscaper, had ties to two of the missing men, raising suspicions.
    “There may be more in common with these cases than just men of similar ages.”
    @ 29m 56s
    November 16, 2023
  • MacArthur's Assault Case
    In 2001, Bruce MacArthur was accused of assaulting a man with a lead pipe, leading to a light sentence.
    “This just seems like a pretty light sentence to me.”
    @ 39m 17s
    November 16, 2023
  • Police Warning on Dating Apps
    Authorities caution against using dating apps due to potential dangers.
    “Don't use these dating apps; we think they're connected with possibly dating websites.”
    @ 45m 49s
    November 16, 2023
  • Arrest of Bruce MacArthur
    66-year-old Bruce MacArthur arrested and charged with multiple counts of murder.
    “He has been charged with two counts of first-degree murder.”
    @ 47m 51s
    November 16, 2023
  • Discovery of Remains
    Police uncover dismembered remains linked to Bruce MacArthur's properties.
    “Police have unearthed the dismembered remains of at least three unidentified individuals.”
    @ 53m 17s
    November 16, 2023

Episode Quotes

  • Oh my God, oh my God!
    Bruce McArthur /// Toronto’s Missing Men /// Part 1 /// 191
  • At least now there is a conclusion to Andrew's story.
    Bruce McArthur /// Toronto’s Missing Men /// Part 1 /// 191
  • Andrew's sisters took notice very quickly.
    Bruce McArthur /// Toronto’s Missing Men /// Part 1 /// 191
  • Bruce pulled out the pipe and hit the man multiple times in the head.
    Bruce McArthur /// Toronto’s Missing Men /// Part 1 /// 191
  • I'll tell you what you do, okay?
    Bruce McArthur /// Toronto’s Missing Men /// Part 1 /// 191
  • He was just a lovely person and he's going to be missed.
    Bruce McArthur /// Toronto’s Missing Men /// Part 1 /// 191

Key Moments

  • Community Search04:28
  • Task Force Established14:36
  • Immediate Concern23:46
  • Search Parties24:07
  • Project Prism Launched25:13
  • Dating App Dangers45:49
  • Bruce MacArthur Arrested47:51
  • Remains Discovered53:17

Words per Minute Over Time

Vibes Breakdown