On January 16, 2018, 66-year old Bruce McArthur was arrested for the first degree murder of five men, and is considered a serial killer by Toronto police. Although being charged with the deaths of five men, remains of at least six were found in planters outside of a house his landscaping company, Artistic Design, worked for.
Who is Bruce McArthur? On the surface, this grandfather and part time mall Santa seems to be innocent. Even searching through his Facebook, the wall is full of cat pictures, recipes and anti-Trump statements–as well as photographs of his children and grandchildren. McArthur, however, had a dark secret. McArthur was a frequent visitor of Toronto’s Gay Village, where the Middle-Eastern men that he likes hangout. Of all the men he fraternized with from his first visits in 1999 to the present, it’s hard to believe McArthur only had five victims. This case is unfolding rapidly and at an alarming rate–it is Canada after all.
Bruce McArthur is an example of the perfect serial killer: kind on the surface, a regular in his pick up spots and squeaky clean social media. An ongoing conversation has been reignited with the discovery of these bodies at one of Artistic Designs’ locations. Apart from his visits to Gay Village, McArthur had accounts on ManJam and Recon, a fetish dating app, said to be looking for “submissive men of all ages.”
Although his initial and public social media was free from smut, his dating apps should’ve been better monitored, especially Recon. Although his behavior is much more common of a closeted gay man, which he was (having been married and divorced), McArthur’s behavior appears to have no motive. Like other gay or suspecting serial killers in the past such as Jeffrey Dahmer, the motive is unclear other than the sexual and control aspect.
Is this violent behavior we’re seeing in the United States and Canada by white men a reflection of their environment? Or is this trend just the police coincidentally realizing more often that we live among crazies? Research for yourself.
