Police looking into past 'sudden deaths' in Bruce McArthur investigation

Toronto police detectives have confirmed that, aside from investigating hundreds of missing persons cases, they are also looking into any outstanding murders and "sudden death" occurrences that could be linked to Bruce McArthurover the years.

The 66-year-old landscaperfaces first-degree murder charges in the cases of sixmen: Andrew Kinsman, 49, Selim Esen, 44, Majeed Kayhan,58, Soroush Mahmudi, 50, Dean Lisowick, 47andSkandaraj Navaratnam, 40.

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Police revealed at a Friday news conference that the remains ofNavaratnamandMahmudiwere found in planters seized from theMallory Crescent propertylinked to McArthur. The remains of Kinsman had also been discovered earlier.

Over the past couple of months, the number of McArthur's alleged victims has grown from two to six; the number of potential crime scenes has multiplied and expanded across the cityand into other parts of the province, and the number of missing persons cases that police are looking into has risen into the hundreds.

Now, police say they're looking beyond unresolved missing persons cases.

"There [are] hundreds of outstanding missing persons occurrences that we're looking at," said lead investigator Det-Sgt. Hank Idsingaon Friday. "We're looking at sudden death cases. I wouldn't say they're being considered murders yet."

According to criminologist and Western University professor MichaelArntfield, these "sudden death occurrences" could mean a range of things, including linking McArthur to any open or unsolved murder anywhere in rural Ontario that corresponds with his movements there years ago.

"Cases that are open, unsolved homicides, undetermined deaths would qualify as 'sudden deaths' that police are referring to," saidArntfield. "So [that would include] deaths with no known cause whether it be accidental, suicide, homicide, any suspicious disappearances or unidentified remains that may indirectly coincide with his movements over that 30- or 40-year period."

Police say this investigation could take years to complete.

"We are tracing [McArthur's] whereabouts as far back as we can go, basically," saidIdsinga.

In opening up their investigation to include so many more cases, many potentially dating back decades, Arntfield saidinvestigators will encounter significant obstacles.

"Police need to cast a very wide net and go back many years. I'm going to suggest as much as 40 years [worth] of records may existparticularly given what we know about his activities and occupation and mobility through the '80s and '90s as a travelling salesman."

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Part of the challenge will include tracking down police data from smaller police forces in northern Ontario from as far back as the 1980s or 1990s, Arntfield said, when officers kept paper records of investigations and weren't necessarily known as "notorious record-keepers."

"His [alleged] victims may go well beyond the current characteristics of his known victims," said Arntfield. "Earlier in his criminal career if these charges turn out to be substantiated he may have targeted different people."

'High level of sophistication'

Arntfieldsaidthe high level of sophistication of McArthur's alleged crimes suggest he is quite adept at covering his tracks and evading capture, all of which makes this already-complicated investigation even more difficult.

"You're talking about someone who is quite frankly very organized and is to be candid: a sophisticated offender,"" he said. "He was [allegedly] making his customers unknowing custodians of these remains."

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Arntfieldsaidthose crimes do not reflect a person who is "starting out" as a serial killer.

"We're [potentially] looking at someone who knows how to defeat conventional investigative methodologies and has likely done so for decades."