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Homicide detectives have identified all but one set of human remains found at a Leaside home connected to Bruce McArthur.
Lead investigator Det. Sgt. Hank Idsinga says forensic pathologists have now identified the remains of Selim Esen, Dean Lisowick and Abdulbasir Faizi, in addition to Andrew Kinsman, Soroush Mahmudi and Skandaraj Navaratnam, whose remains were identified earlier.
“At least one set of remains have yet to be identified, and the remains of Majeed Kayhan have not been identified,” Idsinga said.
Further evidence was secured in the death of Dean Lisowick, putting his time of death at some time in April 2016.
McArthur was charged with a seventh count of first-degree murder during a brief appearance in a Toronto courtroom via video link.
Earlier this year, McArthur was charged with six counts of first-degree murder in connection with the deaths of six men with ties to the city’s LGBTQ2S community.
Investigators previously confirmed that the remains of “at least seven people” were found in planters on a property where the 66-year-old kept equipment for his landscaping business.
McArthur appeared via video link at College Park courts on Wednesday morning. He is being held in a segregation unit.
Police previously said he was on a suicide watch for a period of time.
On Wednesday, the Crown confirmed in court that police had identified the remains of Faizi.
Faizi, 42, disappeared from the Church and Wellesley area on December 29, 2010. His vehicle was later found abandoned on Moore Avenue, near Mount Pleasant Cemetery.
He had a wife and two daughters in Mississauga and was working delivering pizzas at the time he was reported missing.
His is the fifth and final missing person case investigated by police in projects Houston and Prism to be positively linked to McArthur and confirmed deceased.
“They do feel a sense of closure that now all three men have been accounted for,” Idsinga said of the detectives who worked on the project.
Idsinga said police believe Faizi knew McArthur before his death, but declined to elaborate.
Investigators had previously released an image of a middle-aged man they believe was killed by McArthur but have so far been unable to identify him.
Idsinga said police have received as many as 500 tips about the man in the image, and still had 22 possible identities for him.
“Although we are cautiously optimistic about linking any of the 22 to the unknown male in the photo, I would encourage anyone with any further information or insight whatsoever to please pass that information on to us.”
A digitally-enhanced version of his image was distributed to the public on Wednesday.
“I’d like to put a name to him before we do lay a charge,” Idsinga said of the man.
Detectives could technically lay a charge without identifying the man.
Seventy-five searches planned for May
As temperatures rise, Idsinga said police are planning to search 75 properties across the GTA that are linked to Bruce McArthur and his landscaping business.
They include a property in Madoc, Ont. that underwent an initial search when McArthur was first taken into custody.
Searches will begin in the first week of May. Work at the Mallory Crescent home, where the first set of remainswere found, is complete.
Idsinga said forensics officers are still at McArthur’s Thorncliffe Park Drive apartment.
“We’ve quite frankly never seen anything like it,” Idsinga said of the amount of evidence found at his apartment.
“We have quite a few exhibits (of evidence) out of that apartment.”
Police will complete the search of the apartment in the next two or three weeks.
15 cold cases under scrutiny
Idsinga said police have identified 15 cold homicide cases dating from 1975 to 1997 that will be reviewed for links to McArthur.
Some of the victims were gay men, Idsinga said.
