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Police are seeking help identifying the man they believe was killed by Bruce McArthur (McArthur is pictured above).
Toronto police believe they've found another victim in a series of murders in the city's Gay Village neighborhood.
Police today released a photo of the man who they say may be a victim of Bruce McArthur, who is already charged with first-degree murder in the deaths of six men, the Toronto Star reports (click the Star link to see the victim, who was probably dead when the picture was taken, police said).
"Det.-Sgt. Hank Idsinga told a news conference Monday that investigators were releasing the photo as a last resort after exhausting other methods of identifying the man," the paper reports. The man is dark-skinned, black-haired, and bearded, and appears to be of African or Middle Eastern descent.
"We need to put a name to this face and bring closure to the man's loved ones," Idsinga said, according to Vice.
His remains were discovered in a planter at a property where McArthur had done landscaping work. That was also the case with other alleged victims of McArthur. Most of the victims had been missing for months or even years. Police have seized more than 20 planters as part of the investigation.
McArthur has been charged with first-degree murder in the deaths of Andrew Kinsman, Selim Esen, Majeed Kayhan, Soroush Mahmudi, Dean Lisowick, and Skandaraj "Skanda" Navaratnam. Police have identified the remains of Kinsman, Navaratnam, and Mahmudi, but they believe the other men, who had disappeared, were also killed by McArthur. The charges were brought in January and February. McArthur is being held at the Toronto South Detention Centre.
At today's press conference, Ontario's chief forensic pathologist, Michael Pollanen, said the cause of death for the victims has not been determined. The bodies were dismembered before being placed in the planters, and they are in various stages of decomposition, so forensic experts are attempting to reconstruct them.
"This is a unique investigation in the history of our organization. It is drawing on the talents and expertise of essentially everyone in the organization," Pollanen said, according to Vice.
