There is a ripple effect when someone is murdered. “Doctors always say it is better to break something over fracturing it. Fractures never really heal as well as a break,” said Greg Dunn, best friend of Andrew Kinsman, the last of eight men murdered by serial killer Bruce McArthur. “My heart, soul and spirit have been fractured. They may heal in time but it will never be the same and it will never go away.” Dunn’s words were read aloud in court Friday by Justice John McMahon as he described how the pain of the murders of eight men by McArthur reverberated through families, friends, communities and Toronto as a whole. Six people shared with the Star how fractures in their own lives and communities have emerged since the serial killer was arrested just over a year ago. For some, McArthur’s crimes exposed pain from past traumas and historical violence against marginalized communities. For others, there remain haunting questions that may never be answered and thoughts of reunions that will never be.These are their stories:Piranavan Thangavel, who spent three months at sea with Kirushnakumar KanagaratnamAn unanswered question has been weighing on Thangavel since he learned of his friend’s murder: Just how did Bruce McArthur come into contact with Kirushnakumar Kanagaratnam?“We have to know,” he says. “That’s what his family still wants to know.”Knowing how they met could help us know how to better protect people hiding from authorities, as Kanagaratnam was after his refugee claim was denied, Thangavel says.As far as he knows, McArthur hasn’t shared that information, and that may be the only way to find out. Thangavel is resigned to never knowing.His friend came here to save his life. Instead, it was taken in a way that Thangavel is unable to contemplate.“For us now to hear of such a horrible death, we who live in this world as refugees feel like there is no safety for us anywhere in t ...
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