Expanded investigation[edit]The scope of the investigation was expanded at the end of February 2018, looking at outstanding murder cases, hundreds of missing-persons cases and sudden death occurrences and coordinating with other Canadian and international forces.[79]  olice had received tips from around the world, including countries where McArthur had vacationed.[119][120] Idsinga said that the investigation would take years.[59] A police source told the National Post that McArthur had covered his tracks, using aliases online, using pay phones instead of cellphones and avoiding areas with surveillance cameras. The source suggested that McArthur had targeted vulnerable men who did not have a fixed address or had not told their families that they were gay.[21] Detective-Sergeant Stacy Gallant of the TPS homicide squad's cold-case unit said that active crime scenes of the investigation took precedence over revisiting cold cases. Each of 600 cold cases was being looked at for consideration of further attention.[121] They drew up a list of 15 homicide cold cases linked to the gay village,[122] and fitting the general profile of the victims identified thus far.[112] Investigators began reviewing these cold cases, dating between 1975 and 1997, for a possible connection to McArthur.[109] By mid-July, forensic testing related to the cold cases was underway, searching for links to McArthur.[123] The cold cases include some of a series of brutal murders in the gay village between 1975 and 1978, when McArthur would have been 23–26 years old[124] and working just a few blocks south of the gay village.[4][10] The victims of these crimes, all gay men, were found in their homes, naked, tied to beds, and stabbed or beaten to death in a manner described as "overkill".[10] In October 2018, homicide detective David Dickinson said that they had not yet found any links between McArthur and the cold cases.[125] Investigators had planned to return to the 30 properties associated with McArthur in April or May, when the frozen ground had thawed, allowing cadaver dogs to operate with greater accuracy. Idsigna said he was particularly interested in excavating at 3 properties,[101]which included revisiting the Leaside residence where remains had been found.[126]Additional tips saw the number of properties to be searched grow to 75[109] then 100,[127]some of them outside the city.[106] A team of seven cadaver dogs, some on loan from other GTA police forces, were searching the properties by the second week of May.[128][129]These searches had concluded by the first week of June.[60] Follow-up investigations had then considered whether additional searches would be required.[130] Between July 4 and 13,[131] twenty police investigators conducted excavations in the forested ravine behind the Leaside property. They began sifting through a large compost pile, then proceeded with the guidance of canine assistance and a forensic anthropologist.[123] They collected human remains almost every day of this search.[131] On July 20, it was announced that the remains belonged to Kayhan, and that the remains of all of McArthur's alleged victims had been identified.[132] Idsinga said that they had no evidence suggesting McArthur was connected to any other deaths, though the investigation into cold cases was continuing.[133] Waterloo Regional Police contacted Ontario's serial predator crime investigations coordinator to inquire about McArthur in the November 2002 disappearance of David MacDermott from downtown Kitchener.[134] Jon Riley of Meaford, Ontario, is another possible victim. He had gone to Toronto to find work in landscaping, planning to stay in a shelter at Church and Wellesley, and disappeared in May 2013.[135][136] Victims[edit]Five victims were noted by investigators for similarities: middle-aged, bearded, patrons of The Black Eagle bar, and self-identified as "bears". They had also disappeared over holiday weekends: Navaratnam at Labour Day, Faizi after Christmas, Kayhan during Thanksgiving, Esen on Easter, and Kinsman after Toronto Pride.[63][137] Known victims of McArthur| Last seen |
|---|
|
| Abdulbasir "Basir" Faizi | 42 | 2010-12-28 | gay village | 2010-12-29 | 2018-04-11 | Afghan immigrant leading a double life | | Majeed "Hamid" Kayhan | 58 | 2012-10-18 | gay village | 2012-10-25 | 2018-01-29 | Afghan immigrant leading a double life | | Skandaraj "Skanda" Navaratnam | 40 | 2010-09-06 | gay village | 2010-09-10 or 11 | 2018-02-23 | Sri Lankan Tamil refugee with no family in Canada; sexual and employment ties to McArthur | | Soroush Mahmudi | 50 | 2015-08-12 | South Cedarbrae | 2015-08-?? | 2018-01-29 | refugee from Iran | | Andrew Kinsman | 49 | 2017-06-26 | Cabbagetown | 2017-06-29 | 2018-01-18 | sexual and employment ties to McArthur | | Selim Esen | 44 | 2017-03-20 | gay village | 2017-04-20 | 2018-01-18 | Turkish citizen with history of drug use | | Dean Lisowick | 43–44 | 2016-04-21 | Scott Mission | not reported | 2018-01-29 | homeless, former drug user and sex worker | | Kirushna Kumar Kanagaratnam | 37 | 2015-08-?? | unknown | not reported | 2018-04-16 | Sri Lankan Tamil asylum-seeker under a deportation order | All dates are yyyy-mm-dd. All information should be properly sourced below and is accurate as of June 23, 2018. Notes are intended to briefly show commonalities, vulnerabilities and connections to McArthur.[138] Skandaraj "Skanda" Navaratnam, 40, was last seen in the early morning of September 6, 2010, leaving Zippers, a former gay village bar, with an unknown man.[42] A friend who saw Navaratnam the day before said he was excited about having a dog;[139] he left this pet behind at the bar when he disappeared.[32] He was reported missing September 10 or 11, 2010.[140] Navaratnam was romantically involved with McArthur, whom he met in 1999. Navaratnam also worked for McArthur's landscaping business and friends said that they were still involved in 2008.[82] Navaratnam was a Tamil refugee from Sri Lanka and had no family members in Canada.[42][141] Abdulbasir "Basir" Faizi, 42,[42][22][77][142] was last seen December 28, 2010, leaving his workplace in Mississauga, though banking records later placed him at Church and Wellesley.[42] His last night out included a stop at the Black Eagle bar[15] and the Steamworks bathhouse.[143] He was an immigrant from Afghanistan.[42] While living in Iran, a childhood friend had cautioned him on coming out as gay, advising that he should "find God or leave." That conflict remained with Faizi, who kept his gay life hidden from his family, including his wife and children.[144] A colleague said that he had been working overtime to ensure that his two daughters got everything that they wanted for Christmas.[145] He was reported missing on December 29 to Peel Regional Police, west of Toronto. His 2002 Nissan Sentra was found abandoned on Moore Avenue,[42][34] steps away from the Beltline Trail, a small ravine which is a popular cruising spot for gay men. Moore Avenue connects to Mallory Crescent and the Leaside home where McArthur stored his landscaping equipment.[15] On April 11, 2018, police charged McArthur with the murder of Faizi, which occurred on or about December 29, 2010. Majeed "Hamid" Kayhan, 58, was last seen October 18, 2012, in the gay village[144][43]near Yonge Street and Alexander Street. He was reported missing by his adult son on October 25.[32][43][104] Kayhan was an immigrant from Afghanistan,[42] who fled to Canada with his wife and children in the late 1980s. Kayhan and his wife divorced in 2002 but, as the son of a Muslim cleric, he had not come out to his entire family. He suffered PTSD from the Soviet–Afghan War and was a heavy drinker.[138] According to a bartender, Kayhan had been active in the gay village since the mid-1990s and would stay at an apartment kept by his partner, who had also not come out to his family.[43] Following the death of his partner, Kayhan romantically pursued McArthur whom he knew from the Black Eagle.[15]Kayhan's remains were found in a ravine behind the Leaside property, the eighth set to be identified.[132] Soroush Mahmudi, 50, was last seen alive on August 14, 2015, by his home near Markham Road and Blakemanor Boulevard in the South Cedarbrae neighbourhood. He was a manufacturing plant worker who lived with his wife. Police believe that McArthur killed Mahmudi on or about August 15, 2015.[146] He was reported missing by his wife[48] in August.[104] Mahmudi had come to Canada as a refugee from Iran and did not have any family in Canada until he met his wife. They moved from Barrie to Toronto to be closer to his wife's family.[147] He was not known to openly associate with Toronto's gay scene,[104]though before his marriage he had been in a four-year relationship with a transgender woman he met in a bar in Church and Wellesley.[138] Andrew Kinsman, 49, was last seen June 26, 2017, the day after the Pride parade, near his Winchester Street residence in Cabbagetown, south of the gay village. He was reported missing on June 29.[32] A friend who last saw him said that Kinsman was "happy and upbeat".[39] Kinsman was known as a stable and responsible man, a superintendent of his building and a community volunteer. Kinsman had known McArthur for at least a decade, back to when Kinsman was a bartender at the Black Eagle.[15] Kinsman was seen carrying bags of debris on one of McArthur's landscaping projects in 2011[29] and had been in a sexual relationship with McArthur for some time.[76] Selim Esen, 44, was last definitively seen on March 20, 2017, near Yonge Street and Bloor Street, just west of the gay village, though there have been reports that he was seen as late as April 14 near Bloor Street and Ted Rogers Way in the gay village.[86][32][15] He was reported missing by a friend on April 20.[86] olice initially described Esen as a man of no fixed address who often pulled a wheeled suitcase. A friend disputed this, saying that Esen was in an "unhealthy relationship" and would at times stay with friends.[15] Esen was a Turkish citizen who had first come to Canada to be with a partner that he had met in Turkey. According to the friend, he struggled with addiction but was getting control of his problem[148] and had completed a certificate course in peer counselling from St. Stephen's community house just before he disappeared. McArthur was also a client of St. Stephen's and very trusted within the community support organization.[15] He was killed by McArthur on or about April 16, 2017.[137] Dean Lisowick, 43 or 44, was not reported missing.[149][150] He was a resident of Toronto's shelter system.[86][77] He had periodically stayed at The Scott Mission on Spadina Avenue since 2003 and was last recorded there on April 21, 2016. He had faced struggles including issues with substance abuse but was remembered as being very respectful. He was trying to work more, as a cleaner or labourer,[149] having previously worked as a prostitute.[48] He was killed by McArthur on or about April 23, 2016.[137] Kirushna Kumar Kanagaratnam, 37,[151] last had contact with his family in August 2015. He was not reported missing. He was one of 492 Tamil refugees from Sri Lanka who had arrived in Canada on the MV Sun Sea in August 2010. When his deportation order was given, he went into hiding in the Tamil community in Ontario and worked as a cleaner and mover.[116][118] McArthur killed him on or about January 6, 2016.[137] Following the extensive coroner and pathology examinations, after Crown and defence lawyers had information needed for trial, the victims' remains were released to their families. A memorial for Kinsman was held in September, and Mahmudi and Esen's funerals were held in mid-October. Lisowick's remains were laid to rest in late October.[152][153][154] Legal proceedings[edit]In January 2018, a publication ban was ordered on court proceedings, limiting what can be reported in the media.[100] McArthur was detained at the Toronto South Detention Centre.[155] Torstar News Service reported on March 19 that McArthur was being held "in segregation and under constant suicide watch".[6] As of November 5, 2018, McArthur remains held at the Toronto South Detention Centre.[156] He made his first court appearance on January 19, 2018, represented by lawyer Marianne Salih.[157] He made another brief courtroom appearance on January 29 and subsequently attended via video link,[47] represented by W. Calvin Rosemond of the legal defence firm of Edward H. Royle & Partners. Rosemond's biography on the firm's website states that he believes "guilty pleas ought only be entered as a last resort".[100] Rosemond noted at a February 14 hearing that it was McArthur's third court appearance without disclosure. Crown attorney Mike Cantlon said his office received disclosure from police on February 13 and was in the process of vetting and screening it.[155] In mid-March, Cantlon said one package of disclosure had been made to McArthur's lawyers, with more to be expected in the following weeks, some in excess of 10,000 pages owing to the case's complexity.[158] On April 25, Cantlon said more evidence would be turned over to the defence before the next scheduled court date, May 23,[159] at which time defence counsel said that they were continuing to receive disclosure.[160] On June 22, the Crown stated that it had disclosed all evidence to the defence.[161] A judicial pre-trial was scheduled for June 20. The closed-door meeting with the Crown and defence attorneys and judge[162] was to address issues such as resolving the case without a trial (such as by entering a guilty plea), trial length, and procedural and evidentiary issues. Daniel Lerner, a Toronto defence lawyer and former Crown prosecutor, suggested that the Crown would consider severing charges. Lerner noted that a long and complicated trial could put a burden on the jury and create a risk of mistrial. Kevin Bryan, a former detective with York Regional Police's forensics unit, considered the amount of evidence to be catalogued and disclosed and believed a trial was "years away".[163] Several media outlets had applied for the release of the psychiatric and presentencing reports from McArthur's 2003 assault conviction. James Miglin, an attorney for McArthur, argued that this could risk his fair trial rights but Justice Leslie Chaplin felt the reports were generally positive toward McArthur and released them on June 27, 2018. Chaplin also allowed the media to view, but not publish, photographs of the victim's injuries and the weapon used, citing fair trial rights and the victim's privacy.[8][17] In court on October 5, Cantlon said that "negotiations and discussions are ongoing".[164]Represented by James Miglin, McArthur appeared in court in person on October 22 and waived his right to a preliminary hearing, not contesting the weight of evidence which warranted a trial. McArthur was ordered to be tried for eight counts of first-degree murder.[165] On November 5, he first appeared at the Superior Court of Justice before Justice John McMahon,[166] who noted a 2016 Supreme Court of Canada ruling, by which the trial should conclude before August 2020.[167][163] Following a judicial pretrial on November 30, McArthur appeared in court and was told that his trial would begin on January 6, 2020,[168] and was likely to last three to four months.[169][170] On January 28, 2019, TPS announced an anticipated "significant development" in McArthur's case the following day. People queued outside the courthouse from 6 am,[171]following a major snowstorm,[172] and the hearing was moved to the largest available courtroom.[171] On January 29, before Justice John McMahon, McArthur pleaded guilty to each of the eight first-degree murder charges that he was facing, ending the possibility of any trial.[173] Reading from an agreed statement of fact,[174] Cantlon divulged details of the killings, which took place in Toronto between 2010 and 2017. Each crime was either premeditated or involved other crimes which qualified them as first-degree: six were "sexual in nature"[173] and five included confinement.[175] McArthur kept trophies from his victims including jewellery and a notebook. DNA from four of the victims had been found in McArthur's van.[137] McArthur's sentencing hearing is to begin on February 4. Family of the victims and others impacted by the crimes will have the opportunity to file victim impact statements before sentencing.[173] With a mandatory life sentence (25 years without parole) for first-degree murder,[175] the earliest McArthur could be released would be at age 91.[176] Controversies[edit]The high-profile investigation and media coverage have drawn a number of controversies including accusations of indifference towards LGBTQ, racialized and homeless persons. Use of the term serial killer[edit]In mid-November 2017, Richmond said that there was no evidence to establish or exclude that a serial killer was responsible for the disappearances.[32] Saunders told the community on December 8 "The evidence today tells us there's not a serial killer".[56] olice first said that they were dealing with an alleged serial killer on January 29, 2018, confirming what some in the community had feared for years.[46] Some questioned whether police had been taking their concerns seriously.[144] Nicki Ward, a director of the Church-Wellesley Neighbourhood Association, asked "Why weren't we listened to earlier? Perhaps some lives could have been saved if that was the case."[142] Saunders responded that police were not being "coy" about community safety, but that he had been speaking of the evidence that they had at that time.[72] Saunders, who had been a homicide detective for nine years, was an investigator first and spoke in terms of evidence that could be presented in court.[33] Idsinga said that police knew "something was up" with the disappearances in Project Houston, that they had hunches of a killer operating at Church and Wellesley, but that he could not say it without evidence.[151] TPS spokesperson Meaghan Gray noted that while there were theories connecting the disappearances, there had been no evidence at that time.[63] James Dubro, a long-time Toronto crime journalist and past president of the Crime Writers of Canada, wrote in July 2017 that a serial killer – though not ruled out by police – was highly unlikely.[39] Jooyoung Lee, a University of Toronto associate professor who teaches a course on serial homicides, said in November 2017 that the disappearances had the warning signs of a serial killer but that it remained unclear and that serial killers were very rare.[32] Sasha Reid, a University of Toronto PhD candidate specializing in statistical analysis of missing persons and sexually motivated killers, was compiling a missing-persons database when she came across the Project Houston disappearances. She noticed a pattern and concluded that a serial killer was operating in Toronto.[177] Reid said she informed police of her findings and provided a basic criminal profile in July 2017, the month Project Prism was created. She was not contacted again by police, probably because her academic data could not be used in court.[178] Reid's profile identified a suspect of colour in his early 30s, which excluded McArthur.[179] Reid noted that the term serial killer was problematic as it is defined and used differently by various organizations, legal jurisdictions, researchers and the media.[24] Mike Arntfield, a criminologist and Western University professor, has advocated data-based approaches to augment traditional investigative work, particularly in detecting elusive criminals like serial killers. His research team developed an algorithm to perform cluster analysis on 800,000 American murders catalogued by the Murder Accountability Project, which has led to arrests in Cleveland and Chicago. There is no equivalent database in Canada, which lacks standardized reporting.[180] Arntfield had been critical of the TPS for not admitting that there was a serial killer, suggesting that they could have made an arrest sooner if they had. He made a comparison to the Seminole Heights serial killer in Tampa Bay, Florida, where police warned the public of a serial killer in November 2017. This led to 5,000 tips being reported, one of which resulted in an arrest.[24] However, on October 23, 2017, Tampa's interim police chief avoided the term serial killer when three victims had been killed with the same weapon;[181]it was only used after a fourth murder in November when police obtained surveillance video of the same suspect at two crime scenes.[182] In comparison, the TPS said they did not have evidence of a murder or that any of the suspicious disappearances were connected until January 17, the day before McArthur's arrest.[59] The large number of tips generated in Tampa may have been influenced by a US$100,000 reward offered at that time.[182] Allegations of racism[edit]Gay activists and editorial writers have suggested that police only looked at the disappearances seriously when a white man, Andrew Kinsman, was reported missing.[33][183][144][184] Idsinga refuted this, noting that Project Houston was a bigger investigation. He also noted that Kinsman's disappearance in June 2017 was important to the creation of Project Prism because of evidence obtained in July, not because of race.[33][59] CBC News examined hundreds of pages of partially redacted court orders unsealed in September 2018, and concluded that there had been "considerable effort" toward investigating all three Project Houston subjects.[34] Jooyoung Lee suggested that there was racism within the gay community, indicated by the relatively weak responses to the disappearances of the brown-skinned men in contrast with the campaign to find Kinsman.[185] There have also been suggestions that McArthur was initially overlooked as a suspect because he is white.[186] In 2017, Reid theorized that the killer was a person of colour like the victims, later stating this was because serial killers tend to target familiar communities.[178] Victim blaming[edit]While defending the Project Houston investigation and responding to criticisms that police should have recognized the alleged serial killer sooner, Chief Saunders expressed his frustrations to The Globe and Mail that some sources were reporting incidents after McArthur's arrest which could have changed the course of the investigation had they been reported at the time. He was quoted as saying "We knew that people were missing and we knew we didn't have the right answers. But nobody was coming to us with anything."[187]This was run on the front page of the national newspaper on February 27, 2018, under the headline: "Toronto police chief says civilians failed to help investigation into alleged serial killer".[188] The story was widely cited by other media outlets and caused a backlash against Saunders, with his comments taken by LGBTQ leaders and the community as victim blaming.[189] One group held a rally outside police headquarters calling for Saunders's resignation.[21] In a later interview with CP24, Saunders apologized if his comments to theGlobe's editorial board were "misconstrued or taken in the wrong context"[37] and that he had not intended to single out the LGBTQ community.[190] Saunders had expressed gratitude toward the community for their help in the investigation in earlier instances,[49][25]on one occasion saying he was "proud of the fact that the community did help us out in this."[191] Mayor John Tory defended Saunders as a leader who could repair relationships with the city's communities, despite his "awkward language" in the interview.[189] One widely covered story in the media was the account of a 52-year-old part-time university teacher[2] from Thunder Bay[192] who had known McArthur for about ten years. According to the man, McArthur had contacted him on the Bear411 app and suggested that they meet for dinner at Church and Wellesley.[192] After dinner the man got into the back of McArthur's van where they began kissing, petting and undressing. At this point the man claims that McArthur grabbed his neck and violently twisted it, forcing his face into McArthur's crotch. "I really thought my neck was going to be snapped the way he twisted it." The man grabbed McArthur's elbow, squeezing the joint until he was able to make McArthur let go.[192] The man did not report the alleged incident to police until after McArthur's arrest,[15][193] yet felt police could have arrested him sooner.[192] The man alleges this happened in April 2017,[2]about the time that Esen disappeared. Another man claimed to have been invited through a dating app to McArthur's apartment for a liaison involving "bondage and submission role-playing"[37] in late July 2017. McArthur did not want to go to the man's apartment because of security cameras in the area.[21]McArthur made a GHB cocktail for the man, who requested a dosage to relax and "heighten the sexual encounter". However, the man soon began sweating heavily, suggesting he had been overdosed.[185] The man alleged that McArthur ignored his limits and safe words and blocked his airway "with his penis, with his hands, with his body weight sitting on my chest". The man said he lost consciousness and was saved by the return of McArthur's roommate. The man said he was contacted by police the day after McArthur's arrest, and from their questions realized McArthur had photographed him bound in what was described as "a kill position".[37] Alleged 2016 assault[edit]In March 2018, Idsinga learned of "concerning information" in the case which he immediately reported to the professional standards unit;[194] they began an internal investigation on March 5. Police did not release any details[37] but Idsinga said it was serious enough to affect the careers of officers involved.[190] The media roughly described an incident alleged to have occurred in 2016, in which McArthur and an unidentified man whom he met through a dating app were masturbating each other in the back of McArthur's van in a McDonald's restaurant parking lot. McArthur allegedly began throttling the man who broke free and said he would report what happened to police.[194][195] Sources then vary, with McArthur following the man to a police station[194]or driving to a police station while the man phoned police.[195] McArthur either claimed it was the man who had choked him[190] or that the man had asked to be choked then panicked and fled.[194] No occurrence report was filed[194] and McArthur was not charged.[195] Homicide investigators only became aware of the alleged incident after McArthur's arrest,[45] when the man came forward again to bring it to their attention.[194] Handling of missing persons cases[edit]The TPS receives over 4,000 missing-persons reports each year,[191] with most resolved within a few days.[32] 51 Division, which includes Church and Wellesley, had 600 missing persons between 2014 and 2018 and about 30 cases remained open in March 2018.[136]According to Lusia Dion, who runs the website Ontario's Missing Adults, missing men are taken less seriously as "We tend to think they can take care of themselves."[196] The circumstances of a disappearance are considered by TPS before committing resources to a search, especially for an adult.[197] The city had been working to reduce the TPS budget which exceeded $1 billion in 2016.[198] In July 2017, the Toronto Police Association (TPA) claimed that there was a staffing crisis with working conditions at "a breaking point", noting that staff had been reduced by 500 officers since 2010 while a budgetary task force recommended a hiring freeze.[198] An unexpected number of early retirements were attributed by the TPA to stress and morale, and TPA President Mike McCormack noted "when we have a stressed-out officer, when we have people who are burned out, it really does impact public interaction".[199] On December 8, 2017, Saunders announced an internal probe to assess the TPS's response to Richey's disappearance, to determine if there was a procedural, training or other issue. He specifically noted the importance of call uptake and absorbing the circumstances of a reported disappearance.[200][56][58] At a February 29 Toronto Police Services Board (TPSB) meeting, Tory moved to have the internal report made public – or as much as could be released given the ongoing investigation and legal proceedings. The board and Saunders agreed to hear public input on the report.[107][37] Wells's family claimed Toronto police officers told them that her case "was not high priority" because she was homeless for a number of years.[56] Her disappearance was reported by her father in early November 2017, four months after her Facebook account went dormant.[200] Her body had been found on August 5, but was badly decomposed and was not identified until November 23.[71] The person who found Wells's body informed both police and The 519 community centre, but 519 staff failed to follow up with police or transgender-focused organizations. Wells's friends say that this resulted in her body being unidentified for months. In mid-December, 519 executives apologized for their "mishandling of information" but placed full blame on the police. A petition started that month called for the resignation of the 519's executive director, alleging prejudice against transgender and homeless people. The 519 board called for an independent fact-finding review of the allegations.[201] Tory has been supportive of police[47][190] while acknowledging legitimate questions about the investigation that would be answered in due course.[144] Councillor Kristyn Wong-Tam, whose ward includes Church and Wellesley, supported police at the time of McArthur's arrest when she expressed gratitude and noted that it was a complicated case.[202] But by the end of February she said that the police relationship with the community had to be rebuilt[187] and in early March that she was "no longer surprised" by "incompetence" in the investigation.[203] Pride Toronto had been in closed-door talks about the TPS returning to the parade after controversially being banned in 2017. Progress was made but criticisms following McArthur's arrest led to an April 2 statement by Pride's executive director and five LGBT organizations asking the TPS to withdraw its application to march in uniform.[204][205] The statement cited community feelings that investigations were "insufficient" and that concerns were "dismissed".[206] Saunders had hoped that participation would demonstrate a "shared commitment to progress and healing", and considered the many TPS members who identify as LGBTQ and wished to march in the event built on inclusiveness.[207] In a March 9 statement, Saunders said that he understood the public's frustrations with the limited information that had been released during the investigation. He announced finalized plans for a dedicated missing persons unit, community outreach, and a professional standards review of the Richey and Wells cases. He also stated that he believed there were serious issues of systemic bias which required an independent external review, and that he had been working with other officials on how to hold such a review without affecting investigations and prosecutions.[190][208] The missing persons unit, staffed by six police detectives and an analyst, began work in July 2018. They have been tasked with digitizing and reviewing thousands of missing persons files dating to 1953, and to act as a central hub to review each active missing persons case. Their protocols are intended to flag suspicious disappearances in the early hours of an investigation and detect if broader investigations are warranted. Investigations will continue to be run by officers in each of the 17 divisions.[209] The Missing Persons Act would make it easier for police to obtain judicial orders for access to phone records or financial information in a missing persons case. Previously police could only obtain such records if a crime was suspected. The Act was passed in March 2018[210]by the Ontario Liberal government as part of Bill 175, but as of October 2018 it has been stalled by the new government of Premiere Doug Ford with no timeline for bringing it into effect.[209] External review[edit]In January 2018, the Alliance for South Asian AIDS Prevention (ASAAP) demanded that the TPSB commission an external review of the investigation.[144][211] In late February Saunders came to the conclusion that the public could not get clear and credible answers without an independent external review, and suggested as much to Tory and Andy Pringle, chair of the TPSB. He further suggested that the review consider systemic bias in the force.[212] Tory's March 7 call for a public provincial inquiry was reviewed by Ontario's attorney general, who cautiously suggested that it wait until after criminal proceedings.[45][213] In mid-March, a group of LGBTQ advocates demanded an immediate inquiry. Legal experts suggested that criminal investigations and prosecutions be protected by a publication ban on witness testimony, or by preserving records and taking witness statements under seal until the trials were over.[214][215][216] rotocol for an external review was debated on March 22 by the TPSB, which voted to back an external review that would exclude the McArthur serial murder investigation.[189][217] In mid-April, the board unanimously approved a working group to define the specifics of the external review. The group consisted of TPSB member Ken Jeffers, ASAAP board member Shakir Rahim, sex-worker advocate Monica Forrester and lawyer Sara Mainville who specializes in cases involving indigenous peoples. The TPSB named Breese Davies, vice-president of the Criminal Lawyers' Association, in a facilitator role.[218] The TPSB had to request $25,000 from the city's budget committee for the working group and its legal consultation fees.[219] The working group reported on June 15 that the missing-persons investigations of McArthur's alleged victims could be examined up to the point at which the investigations involved McArthur. They estimated that the inquiry would take 15 months and cost $2.5 million.[220] Tory was adamant that the community be adequately consulted and increased this figure to $3 million, which would go before city council.[221] The review is to examine TPS handling of missing-persons reports, biases within the service, and any obstacles that prevented Lisowick and Kanagaratnam from being reported missing. Specific investigations to be examined will include Project Houston, Project Prism, and the investigations into missing persons Alloura Wells and Tess Richey.[222] ast reviews are also to be examined including the review into the 1981 bathhouse raids, the city auditor's report following the Balcony Rapist investigation, and the Missing Women Commission of Inquiry following Vancouver police's Robert Pickton case.[221] On June 25, on the recommendation of the working group,[223] the TPSB announced that it had retained Justice Gloria Epstein, who would retire as a part-time Ontario Appeal Court judge on September 1 to lead the review. Epstein had been appointed to the Ontario Superior Court of Justice in 1993[224] and made a prominent ruling that the Ontario Family Law Act definition of spouse was unconstitutional because it discriminated against homosexual couples.[223] Epstein asked Mark Sandler to serve as the review's legal counsel.[225] In October, the review was compiling documents and establishing an advisory panel to aid "extensive outreach to the community."[209] The advisory panel was named in January 2019, and include Forrester, ASAAP executive director Haran Vijayanathan, activist Ron Rosenes, Indigenous lawyer Christa Big Canoe, former Ontario Court of Justice chief Brian Lennox, former NYPD police officer Michele Lent, lawyer Andrew Pinto, and Parkdale Queen West Community Health Centre executive director Angela Robertson.[226] Media use of photos[edit]The media have drawn criticism for the imbalance in images of McArthur and his alleged victims. One widely published picture is of McArthur smiling at the camera as he posed at Niagara Falls. Lisowick, in comparison, was mostly known by a police mug shot. TPS spokesman Mark Pugash explained that they only release pictures if there is a "valid investigative purpose".[227] Media outlets with tight deadlines obtain photos from the Internet, and copied pictures from McArthur's Facebook page and online dating profiles within minutes of his arrest. Flattering pictures that he had used to define himself thus became his image in the media. The slain men who had Facebook accounts posted fewer pictures and Lisowick, a homeless man, had no digital footprint; so the first available picture was a police-released mug shot.[227] Editor Kathy English said that the Toronto Star would continue to publish Facebook photos of McArthur as a journalistic duty to report reality. Editor Sylvia Stead of The Globe and Mail stated that "true news photos" should be recent, like courtroom sketches, and that the balance should be in favour of the victims.[228] Nikki Ward, a director of the Church-Wellesley Neighbourhood Association and graphic artist, obtained a photograph of Lisowick at a vigil which she cleaned up and shared with media outlets so that his mug shot would not have to be used.[227] Another controversial photo was that of a dead man which police released in hopes that the public could help identify him.[37] The Toronto Star chose not to publish the photo because of its disturbing nature.[116] A version cleaned up by Ward to better represent the man in life and a sketch by a TPS forensic artist were released at an April 11 news conference.[113][109] #LoveWins[edit]A free concert called #LoveWins was initiated by Kristyn Wong-Tam, the only openly LGBTQ member of city council. In production since December 2017, the event went public on March 7 through a news release and Facebook page, described as "part vigil, part celebration". The proposed March 29 event drew a number of criticisms, from logos of corporate sponsors to holding a celebration when the unnamed dead were still in forensic laboratories. The event was chaired by Salah Bachir, president of Cineplex Media, who identified as a "queer Arab man" and was both sad and angry about the crimes, having known some of the victims personally while his sister was a landscaping client of McArthur's.[229] Sara Malabar, who produced the opening and closing events for 2014 World Pride, started a Facebook page titled "Stop Love Wins Concert" and threatened to organize a protest if it was not cancelled. Another critic noted that events are pressured to go mainstream when attracting corporate sponsors, and overlook the needs of the community that they are meant to address. It was also noted that marginalized communities could make better use of the resources than by throwing a party.[229] On March 10, Wong-Tam's website announced that the event would be postponed to address concerns, admitting that the event had sparked unnecessary division at a historic moment for the community. Malabar offered to help in creating a more appropriate event, with more LGBTQ performers.[230] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2010%E2%80%932017_Toronto_serial_homicides
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