Police in Canada have accused a Toronto landscaper of murdering at least five people and burying their remains in large flower planters on his clients’ properties, in a case that has sparked an “unprecedented” investigation. 
 
 “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. 
 
 Police said they had found the dismembered remains of at least three victims in large planters on properties linked to McArthur. Forensic experts are carrying out DNA analysis in an effort to determine the identities of those found. 
 
 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.” 
 
 News of McArthur’s arrest came months after Toronto’s LGBT community began voicing concerns that a serial killer was targeting men in the city’s Gay Village after the disappearances of two men, Selim Esen and Andrew Kinsman. After saying in December that there was no evidence to support such a theory, police on Monday described McArthur as an alleged serial killer. 
 
 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. 
 
 Recent Christmas seasons had also seen McArthur, a self-employed landscaper, work as a Santa Claus at a Toronto mall. He had been hired through an event management company and there were no issues raised during his time at the mall, officials with the shopping centre told Global News. 
 
 
 
 Along with Esen and Kinsman, McArthur is accused of killing Majeed Kayhan and Soroush Marmudi. The men, all of whom were in their 40s and 50s, were reported missing between 2012 and 2017. Another alleged victim, Dean Lisowick, was never reported missing and is believed to have been killed in 2016 or 2017. 

 Toronto landscaper Bruce McArthur now faces three additional counts of first-degree murder, bringing the total to five in what police are calling a serial killing case that the city has never seen before. 
 
 Det.-Sgt Hank Idsinga said Monday that investigators have reason to believe McArthur killed Majeed Kayhan, Soroush Mahmudi and Dean Lisowick. 
 
 "What kind of case is this?" Idsinga asked rhetorically at a news conference. "It's a serial killer." 
 
 'I have no idea how many more there are going to be,' says Det.-Sgt. Hank Idsinga 1:35 
 
 Idsinga said there may be even more victims who have yet to be identified. 
 
 "We do believe there are more and I have no idea how many more there are going to be." 
 
 McArthur, 66, was previously charged with two counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of Selim Esen and Andrew Kinsman, who both disappeared in 2017. 
 
 Police say Kayhan went missing in October 2012 and Mahmudi in August 2015. They believe Lisowick was killed in 2016 or 2017. 
 
 Remains found in planters 
 
 Idsinga said police discovered dismembered remains in the bottom of large planters after searching a property linked to McArthur at Mallory Crescent in midtown Toronto. 
 
 "There's at least the remains of three people among those body parts," said Idsinga. 
 
 McArthur now faces first-degree murder charges in the deaths of Majeed Kayhan, Soroush Mahmudi and Dean Lisowick, left to right. (Toronto Police Service) 
 
 He added that more DNA and other analysis is being done on the remains to determine the exact identities of the victims. 
 
 Karen Fraser lived at the Mallory Crescent property with her husband and told CBC's As It Happens McArthur would often store equipment — including large planters like the ones where the body parts were found — on her property in exchange for cutting grass. 
 
 McArthur would do more for her, including helping her with charity work, she added. 
 
 Toronto police probed a home linked to Bruce McArthur, located on Mallory Crescent in the area of Bayview and Moore avenues. Although McArthur didn't live there, he did landscaping work for the couple who lived at the property and stored equipment there. (Mehrdad Nazarahari/CBC) "He has been kind, helpful, helped with our charity work, doing floral gifts for silent auctions," she said. "He went above and beyond what our original agreement was to cut the grass." 
 
 Fraser said she now struggles to fall sleep and thinks about how some of the alleged victims were immigrants. 
 
 "I know sometimes they feel incredibly vulnerable. A lot of them are here without family," she said. 
 
 "I picture these men, glad to be making friends. They found a community. They really think that their new life is going to be maybe more than they ever dreamed possible — and then that someone took advantage. The terror, the horror — that's what I have real trouble with" 
 
 Other sites to be searched 
 
 Since McArthur's arrest, police have identified approximately 30 properties where the self-employed landscaper may have worked. 
 
 Idsinga said police have searched the majority of the properties, and urged anyone who may have employed McArthur to contact them so they can search the area where he may have worked. 
 
 "He's taken some steps to cover his tracks and we have to uncover these victims," Idsinga said. 
 
 Investigators have also seized other planters to go through and have identified at least two other sites to be excavated. 
 
 Toronto police recovered body parts of 'at least' three victims inside planters at the Mallory Crescent home. (CBC) 
 
 'Unprecedented' investigation 
 
 Idsinga also confirmed that McArthur was first identified as a suspect in September in connection with Kinsman's disappearance. 
 
 Officers arrested him after uncovering evidence that also linked McArthur to Esen's death. 
 
 The ensuing investigation has required "unprecedented" resources, police said. 
 
 "We've never seen anything quite like this with the number of crime scenes that we have to process," Idsinga said. 

 Toronto police are officially investigating what they think is a “serial killer” — and one who has taken care to cover up evidence believed to be buried across the city and whose murderous toll is still being tallied. Toronto police Det. Sgt. Hank Idsinga unequivocally stated as much when providing the stunning news Monday of yet three more first-degree murder charges laid against Bruce McArthur. 
 
 A Toronto man is facing three more first-degree murder charges, after being charged in the presumed deaths of two men reported missing from the city?s gay village. Police say it?s fair to call Bruce McArthur an alleged serial killer. (The Canadian Press) 
 
 The new charges mean the 66-year-old landscaper now stands accused of five premeditated murders. “The city of Toronto has never seen anything like this,” Idsinga stated Monday. And yet, there is likely more to come. 
 
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 Calling the ongoing probe “unprecedented,” Idsinga said hundreds of officers are now involved in the investigation into McArthur, which includes a detailed search of 30 properties to which McArthur is linked through his landscaping business. The lead homicide detective also revealed Monday that police had made a grisly discovery: dismembered, skeletal remains of three unidentified people in planters at a Leaside home. The remains are now undergoing DNA testing. Investigators have seized 12 such planters and continue to search the properties with the belief that there are more remains to be recovered. “We do believe there are more . . . . We have no idea how many more there are going to be,” Idsinga said. “He’s taken some steps to cover his tracks and we have to uncover these victims and identify these victims.” Less than two weeks after announcing McArthur’s arrest in the deaths of Andrew Kinsmen and Selim Esen — two men who disappeared from Toronto’s Gay Village last year — McArthur has now been charged in the deaths of three more men, two of whom were previously reported missing. 
 
 Detective Sgt. Hank Idsinga speaks to reporters at police headquarters Monday. Toronto police have announced three additional counts of first-degree murder have been laid against Bruce McArthur. ( Andrew Francis Wallace / Toronto Star ) 
 
 According to court documents, police believe McArthur killed Majeed Kayhan “on or about” Oct. 18, 2012 — shortly before the 58-year-old Afghan immigrant was reported missing by his son. Police believe McArthur killed Soroush Mahmudi, a diminutive professional painter, “on or about” Aug. 15, 2015, according to court documents — the last day the 50-year-old was seen alive by his home near Markham Rd. and Blakemanor Blvd. in Scarborough. He, too, was reported missing by his family. 
 
 Frame grab from CTV News video footage taken Jan. 20, 2018 shows Toronto police removing items, including a planter which they confirmed contained body parts, from 53 Mallory Cres. ( CTV News ) 
 
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 Then, sometime between April 4, 2016 and March 15, 2017, police allege McArthur killed Dean Lisowick, a man in his mid-40s who had no fixed address at the time, and whose disappearance was never reported to police. While Idsinga has previously confirmed that McArthur, who was known in Toronto’s Gay Village, was in a relationship with Kinsmen, police have not provided any more information about his connection to his other alleged victims. Neither have police provided details about how the men died, although Idsinga previously said police had a “pretty good idea” of Kinsmen and Esen’s manner of death. With the new charges, police now believe a killing spree began as far back as 2012 and continued until as recently as last June. But Idsinga was clear that police have no fixed idea of when the first killing may have taken place. Right now, police are probing “at least” to 2010, “and if we have to go back further than that we will,” he said. 
 
 That timeline is informed in part by the launch of Toronto police investigation, Project Houston, which probed the disappearances of Skandaraj Navaratnam, Abdulbasir Faizi, and Kayhan — all of whom frequented the Gay Village, and all of whom went missing between 2010 and 2012. Idsinga stressed Monday that Project Houston, which included a thorough investigation by a team of officers, concluded without any evidence being found that would classify anyone as a suspect. Little is known about how police zeroed in on McArthur. The linchpin of the probe appears to have been located by police on Jan. 17 — one day before McArthur’s arrest — but it’s not clear what that evidence entails. Still yet to be explained is how police have sufficient grounds to lay five murder charges in relation to five deaths, but may not yet have the remains of any of the men. Idsinga said police could not yet say if the remains located in the planters belonged to the men McArthur is accused of killing. “We have to wait for DNA tests, and we have to get tests from the people who are outstanding and their family members before we can identify the remains,” the detective said. Asked Monday if police have uncovered some kind of record made by McArthur, Idsinga did not say, but stated briefly that McArthur had spoken to investigators. Idsinga asked any homeowners who had contracted McArthur as a landscaper to contact police so investigators can search their properties. Police have access to McArthur’s client list. A grim-faced McArthur made a brief appearance at the College Park courthouse Monday morning. Wearing grey pants and a navy jersey, his voice cracked slightly when he was asked to state his name. McArthur was remanded in custody and ordered to appear again, by video, on Feb. 14, a date already set at his last appearance. He was represented in court by a member of Toronto defence lawyer Ted Royle’s firm. Speaking to reporters Monday, Toronto Mayor John Tory said he thought the ongoing investigation “will bring comfort to people who are very worried about this whole series of events, across the city, and in particular in the LGBTQ community.” “And I’m trusting that the police are doing what they’ve been doing for weeks and months now, which is continuing their investigation as aggressively and competently as they do, and that they will have further news to report,” he said. 
 
 Homicide Detective Sgt. Hank Idsinga updated the media on the case against Bruce McArthur on January 29. Toronto Police have charged McArthur with three additional counts of first-degree murder, bringing the total number of charges to five. Idsinga also said that McArthur is an "alleged serial killer." (Toronto Police Services/YouTube) 
 
 If you have any further information on Bruce McArthur or his alleged victims, or were one of his landscaping clients please contact us at city@thestar.ca. With files from Victoria Gibson, Alex Mckeen, Betsy Powell, Ben Spurr and Alexandra Jones
– After a series of grim discoveries, police in Toronto believe they have a serial killer in custody—one who was able to operate undetected for years because he had a job that was perfect for hiding bodies. Bruce McArthur, a 66-year-old self-employed landscaper, has been charged with first-degree murder in the deaths of five men who disappeared between 2012 and 2017, the CBC reports. The skeletal remains of at least three victims were found in huge concrete planters at a client's home, and police believe that a search of around 30 properties where McArthur carried out work will uncover the remains of more victims. "The city of Toronto has never seen anything like this," police spokesman Hank Idsinga said Monday. "We do believe there are more ... We have no idea how many more there are going to be," Idsinga said, per the Toronto Star. "He's taken some steps to cover his tracks and we have to uncover these victims and identify these victims." Idsinga said numerous planters have been seized from around the city. McArthur—who also worked as a mall Santa—was arrested earlier this month and charged with two murders. Police charged him with three more killings Monday. All of the victims were in their 40s and 50s, and police say they're investigating McArthur in connection with disappearances in Toronto's "Gay Village" district going back as far as 2010 and possibly earlier. Police said as recently as last month that there was no evidence to support suspicions of a serial killer, the Guardian reports.