Canadian landscaper charged with five murders

A Toronto landscaper killed five people and buried them on clients’ land.

Canadian police say that they are in the midst of an "unprecedented" investigation as they search for more victims of an alleged serial killer.

“The city of Toronto has never seen anything like this,” Hank Idsinga of the Toronto police told reporters on Monday.

Bruce McArthur, 66, was arrested earlier this month and charged in connection with the presumed deaths of two missing men. On Monday, police added three more charges of first-degree murder, bringing the tally to five.

Three of the charges are linked to men who frequented Toronto's Gay Village neighbourhood.

Toronto's LGBT community had raised concerns for months about a series of disappearances around the Village.

Police said they found the dismembered remains of at least three victims in large planters on properties linked to McArthur. Forensic expects are carrying out DNA analysis in an effort to determine their identities.

On Monday, Toronto police said that McArthur has been charged with first degree murder in the deaths of Majeed Kayhan, Soroush Marmudi and Dean Lisowick, along with the deaths of Andrew Kinsman and Selim Esen.

Clockwise from left: Majeed Kayhan, Dean Lisowick, Soroush Marmudi, Selim Esen, Andrew Kinsman (Photo: Toronto Police)

Esen, 44, went missing last April and Kinsman, 49, disappeared in June. Kayhan, 58, went missing in 2012. All three were known to spend time in the Village.

Marmudi, 50, was reported missing by his family in 2015.

Lisowick, 47, who police said lived in homeless shelters in Toronto, was never reported missing. It is believed he was murdered between May 2016 and July 2017.

Police say Kinsman and McArthur had a "sexual" relationship with the suspect but have not revealed any links between the other suspected victims.

Another 30 or so sites where McArthur may have done landscaping work have been located and investigators are combing through them for clues as to whether there are other victims. “We do believe there are more and I have no idea how many more there are going to be,” said Idsinga.

He urged anyone who might have contracted McArthur’s landscaping services to contact police. “We’ve never seen anything quite like this with the number of crime scenes that we have to process,” said Idsinga. “We have seized quite a few planters from around the city and we will continue to do that. There are at least two sites that we do want to excavate where people might be buried.”

Last December, Toronto police tried to calm community concern that there was a serial killer stalking the Village.

Now, they are in the midst of a full-scale investigation that spans across Canada's largest city.

But they connected him to allegations that spanned the city. “It encompasses more than the gay community. It encompasses the city of Toronto,” said Idsinga.