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ALEX MALAKHOV/STREETER SERIAL KILLERS: The serial killings in Toronto are unusual in that they may have gone back decades, criminologists say.
NEWS EDITION: CENTRAL TORONTO LEASIDE Local serial killings both typical and unique in Canadian history Experts weigh in on what could turn out to be longest string of murders March 27, 2018 Bobby Hristova Alleged Serial Killer, Bruce McArthur, Church and NEWS VIEWS ARTS & LIFE SPORTS BUSINESS THINGS TO DO | Wellesley, Cli ord Olson, Gay Village, Jooyoung Lee, Michael Arnt eld, Paul Bernardo, Robert Pickton, Serial Killer, Serial Murder, Toronto
Yves (Apache) Trudeau, Robert Pickton, Paul Bernardo and Cli ord Olson.
Canada’s most notorious serial killers may soon welcome another name to their gallery of infamy — the name of an alleged killer who has been accused of having plied his trade in Toronto neighbourhoods over several years.
Toronto police have toiled to uncover the work of what they have said since Jan. 29 is a local serial killer.
That admission came 11 days after police charged Thorncli e Park-based landscaper Bruce McArthur, 66, with two counts of rst-degree murder — and the day they announced discovery of three sets of human remains from planters at 53 Mallory Cres. in Leaside. Additional charges were laid in the following weeks and McArthur now faces six rst-degree murder charges, mainly for the deaths of men who were reported missing from the Church and Wellesley gay village area.
Police have so far recovered seven sets of human remains from planters on Mallory Crescent.
More charges may be coming, police say. They continue to search for bodies on Mallory Crescent and at other addresses across Ontario. They have also said they are investigati PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BOBBY HRISTOVA ng the cases of ACCUSED: Toronto police have charged Bruce McArthur NEWS VIEWS ARTS & LIFE SPORTS BUSINESS THINGS TO DO | missing with six counts of murder and have hinted more charges men going may be coming, which would place him among the most back proli c alleged serial killers in Canadian history. decades.
If all the allegations are proven and attributed to one perpetrator, that person would become known as the most proli c serial killer in Toronto’s history, surpassing child murderer David Kreuger and serial rapist Paul Bernardo.
In fact, it would rank the murderer as among Canada’s top 10 worst serial killers.
Michael Arnt eld, a former London, Ont. police o cer turned criminologist and serial killer expert, says the allegations involve the dismemberment, transportation and concealment of victims.
These components coupled with other statements by police in this case could reveal something uniquely sinister about the alleged killer, Arnt eld says: “He will likely be the longest operating [serial killer], whether that’s continuous or intermittently, in Canadian history.”
Arnt eld notes every previous serial killer who has moved and hidden his victims has been between 24 to 43 years old. An older serial killer in his 60s either started late or, in a more likely scenario, went undetected for decades.
“With older o enders, you usually see [victims] lured to a site and then kept and disposed there,” he said.” You don’t often see them go out again with a body because that involves such an elevated degree of risk…. In many cases, they lack the virility or brazenness to do that.”
Arnt eld says although landscaping speci cally isn’t a common trade among serial killers, general labour is the most common unskilled job among them.
Before being a landscaper, McArthur was a travelling salesman.
“Not only do we have the weird age and daily organized behaviour [as a landscaper], his earlier job is more compelling to me as serial killer occupations,” Arnt eld said.
Compared to Olson, Pickton
Though this investigation is atypical in many ways, Arnt eld says it does bear some resemblance to the case of Cli ord Olson, the Canadian psychopath who murdered 11 people. Olson displayed sexual NEWS VIEWS ARTS & LIFE SPORTS BUSINESS THINGS TO DO | polymorphism, a trait in highly sadistic killers who crave extreme violence and su ering, targeting people of any age or gender.
“He began by attacking females, went to prison for it,” Arnt eld Among the worst? says. “He comes out and he If upheld, the six murder charges laid realizes, given his age, it was against Bruce McArthur so far would easier for him to pick up male make him Toronto’s worst serial killer hitchhikers in their late teens in history. and early twenties … so he didn’t necessarily ‘turn gay.'” His alleged kill total surpasses that of Mark Gar eld Moore who was Since convenience seems to convicted of shooting four men to have been a factor in the deaths death in 2010. in the current Toronto investigation, Arnt eld’s Even the infamous “Scarborough message to investigators is clear: rapist” Paul Bernardo was tried and going back decades, they cannot convicted for only two murders in rule out that victims may have 1995, although he has been suspected been females. of having been involved in two other deaths. “Police can’t just get tunnel vision and just focus on missing Pushing McArthur’s total of alleged gay men,” he says. “Preferred victims up to seven — to account for victims change over the lifespan all the human remains found to date of a criminal’s career.” — would place him among the 10 worst accused serial killers in Canada. Another case with similarities to the current investigation is that Leading the pack of killers and alleged of Robert Pickton, a serial killer killers is Yves (Apache) Trudeau, who severed and fed between a motorcycle gang member based in seven and 80 victims to pigs. Laval, Quebec, who killed 43.
He is one of only four per cent of Cli ord Olson confessed to murdering killers who have dismembered 11 children and young adults in British their victims, according to Columbia in the early 1980s. Arnt eld. B.C. pig farmer Robert Pickton was convicted of killing six women, though Jooyoung Lee, an associate he was charged with another 20 sociology professor at the deaths and is said to have confessed University of Toronto and serial to 49. homicide expert, says dismemberment helps keeps Several others have been convicted of NEWS VIEWS ARTS & LIFE SPORTS BUSINESS THINGS TO DO | murderers undetected — and six to eight murders, although some of entertained. them were suspected of having killed more “A lot of people think [a serial killer] is collecting trophies and With seven charges, McArthur would enjoys dismembering bodies,” place ninth on this national list. he says. “They experience a rush This is still far behind the numbers and a thrill…. They don’t want to wracked up by the worst serial killers get caught.” around the world, responsible for But, unlike in the Pickton case, scores of victims — even surpassing police allege the Toronto serial 100 deaths in three cases. The highest killer targeted people connected totals in the United States are 35 and to one area, Church and 33, attributed to, respectively, Ted Wellesley. Bundy and John Wayne Gacy.
Lee says a serial killer in a city But with police continuing to like Toronto is “profound.” investigate Toronto properties where McArthur has worked and studying “We don’t see a lot of serial missing persons cases going back killers in cities — it’s harder,” Lee decades, no one is quite sure yet how says. “The best way to reduce high on the list of infamy his name crime in cities is to create may eventually rank. neighbourhoods with residential and commercial use and lots of — Jay Garak green space, so there’s always someone watching. Toronto has been very well designed in that respect.”
Little training in catching serial killers
Police only labelled the crimes and missing men as the victims of a serial killer in 2018, eight years after the rst victim went missing.
Now they are trying to connect crimes in the 1970s to the accused due to his age, jobs and other factors, but experts say police face a barrier: each other.
Lee says local police have a dismal system for storing information and little- to-no training in regard to serial killers.
Arnt eld adds police are proud and territorial, leading to lack of information sharing and a denial of any problem at all.
These problems, alongside the cunning of a killer, make these cases hard to solve, especially when the research has a blind spot: almost all studies and theories only account for serial killers who have been caught, otherwise NEWS VIEWS ARTS & LIFE SPORTS BUSINESS THINGS TO DO | known as “failed serial killers,” Lee says.
“Sometimes it takes years, sometimes it takes months and sometimes [police] don’t catch them,” Lee says. “Serial killers wear a mask of normalcy. They don’t stand out.”
But there is one thing police can do to speed up the process.
“Around that magic number, three or four [victims], mistakes are made [by the killer] and there’s enough victims now … that police will admit they have a serial killer,” Arnt eld says. “As soon as they are able and willing to recognize that and admit that, the scope of the investigation progresses much more quickly.”
Not doing so until late in the game is the mistake Toronto police made, he says.
Remains found on Thorncli e landscaper Bruce McArthur's ties Leaside property in charged with murder of with Leaside area may go growing serial killer case two missing men beyond Mallory Crescent
January 29, 2018 January 18, 2018 February 4, 2018 In "*FEATURED" In "*FEATURED" In "*FEATURED"
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By: Bobby Hristova Posted: Mar 27 2018 4:39 pm Filed in: NEWS Edition: Central Toronto • Leaside Neighbourhood: Church and Wellesley • Leaside • Thorncli e Park Tagged: Alleged Serial Killer • Bruce McArthur • Church and Wellesley • Cli ord Olson • Gay Village • Jooyoung Lee • Michael Arnt eld • Paul Bernardo • Robert Pickton • Serial Killer • Serial Murder • Toronto
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