Many questions remain unanswered surrounding the serial killings that have haunted members of the Church Street area over the past few years. As new information comes to light that McArthur was questioned and known to police, many members of the community are left wondering if something should have been done differently. A concise list of events surrounding the case is as follows:
source: @locallytoronto on twitter
October 2012- Majeed Kayhan, 58, is reported missing from the Toronto area. In a profile by the Toronto Sun: Kayhan was an Afghan immigrant to Canada who was reported missing by his son. Police say he frequented the Church Street village and separated his personal and family life.
November 2012- Police launch Project Houston to investigate the disappearances of Kayhan and two others in the Church Street community of Toronto. According to the Globe and Mail, a friend of Majeed Kayhan, spoke to police as part of the investigation and suggested they question McArthur.
2013- Also reported by the Globe and Mail, Police interviewed McArthur as part of Project Houston.
August 2014- Project Houston is closed with no conclusive evidence to charge any persons of interest with a criminal offense.
source: @DADIG123 on twitter
August 2015- Soroush Mahmudi, 50, is reported missing. According to the Toronto Star, Mahmudi was last seen between Markham Rd. and Blakemanor Blvd. in Scarborough, the summer of 2015. An immigrant from Iran, he met his wife in Canada – the two were introduced by friends and lived together with her son. When asked, his wife says she didn’t know about Mahmudi’s visits to the gay village. It is unclear how Mahmudi and McArthur met.
source: @DADIG123 on twitter
Unknown 2016- The Globe and Mail reports that a man told police that McArthur tried to strangle him, but he managed to escape.
April 14, 2017- Selim Esen, 44, is reported missing. According to the Toronto Star, Esen was a Turkish immigrant who had lived in Istanbul and studied philosophy in Ankara. In an interview with the Star, a friend, Richard Harrop, says Esen came to Canada with a partner, but the relationship didn’t work out. Harrop says that Esen struggled with addiction problems and the two would meet for coffee before Esen’s appointments.
source: @DADIG123 on twitter
May 2016 to July 2017- Police report Dean Lisowick, 44, is murdered by McArthur. Unlike other victims, Lisowick, of no fixed address, was never reported missing to police. In an article by the CBC, a fellow sex worker in the Church Street community – M’shel George – remembers Lisowick as “thoughtful and very caring.”
source: @DADIG123 on twitter
June 27, 2017- Andrew Kinsman, 49, is reported missing. According to CBC, Kinsman went missing from Toronto’s Cabbagetown neighbourhood the day after the city’s annual Pride Parade.
August 2017- Police launch second probe – Project Prism – to investigate the disappearances of Kinsman and Esen.
September 2017- According to Global News, landscaper Bruce McArthur, 66, is named “as someone to be included or excluded as being involved with the disappearance of Andrew Kinsman,” associated with the findings of Project Prism.
source: @NEWSTALK1010 on twitter
December 8, 2017- Police Chief Mark Saunders denies fears a serial killer is targeting victims in the Church Street neighbourhood.
January 18, 2018- McArthur is arrested and charged with first-degree murder in the deaths of Selim Esen and Mark Kinsman.
source: Reuters Police guard the grounds of a house searched in connection with the killings.
January 29, 2018- McArthur is charged with first-degree murder in the deaths of Majeed Kayhan, Soroush Mahmudi and Dean Lisowick.
January 30, 2018 – The Toronto Sun reports, in an exclusive story, that cops rescued a young man tied to McArthur’s bed and at that time decided to arrest McArthur.
February 8, 2018- Toronto Police confirm the remains of Andrew Kinsman have been found.
source: DADIG123 on twitter
February 23, 2018- Toronto Police confirm remains found are McArthur’s sixth victim Skandaraj Navaratnam. According to the Toronto Star, Navaratnam, 40, was last seen in the early hours of Sept. 10, 2010, leaving Zipperz bar near Church and Carlton Sts., in the Village, with an unknown man.
source: @TPSHomicide on twitter
March 5, 2018- Toronto Police release a photo to the public of a seventh victim in the hopes someone will identify him. They report that many tips have been received as a result.
