WARNING: this article contains graphic content.Surveillance video footage capturing a glimpse of a red van outside the home of Andrew Kinsman, the final victim of serial killer Bruce McArthur.A note on Kinsman’s calendar on June 26, 2017, the day he went missing: “Bruce.”Together, the two pieces of information ultimately led Toronto police to evidence that “cracked the case open,” court heard from Crown lawyer Micheal Cantlon Monday morning at the sentencing hearing for McArthur, who pleaded guilty to eight counts of first-degree murder.While investigating Kinsman’s disappearance, Toronto police Det. David Dickinson was able to determine the make and model of McArthur’s van — a 2004 Dodge caravan — and sought vehicle registry information from Ontario’s Ministry of Transport, which produced 6,181 results. Of those, five owners were named Bruce. But only one had any recent contact with Toronto police: McArthur, who in 2016 was arrested but not charged in connection to a report that the 67-year-old had attempted to strangle a man. McArthur was made a person of interest and thus began a months-long investigation that ultimately led police to arrest McArthur on Jan. 18, 2018. One day earlier — just over a month after police had surreptitiously entered McArthur’s apartment — investigators found far more incriminating evidence on McArthur’s hard drive: photos depicting his deceased victims, including 18 taken of Kinsman after he was murdered. “For years, members of the LGBTQ community believed that they were being targeted by a killer,” Cantlon said, in his opening address to a packed court. “They were right.”Cantlon read a detailed description of facts in court Monday that offered new information about past contacts between McArthur and police, as well as the rescue of a possible ninth victim on the day of McArthur’s arrest. Court also heard that most of t ...
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