Toronto police say a “significant development” is expected in court Tuesday in the case of alleged serial killer Bruce McArthur.
McArthur will appear at the 361 University Ave. courtroom in downtown Toronto at 9:30 a.m. No details about the nature of the development have been revealed.
McArthur, 67, is facing eight counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of Selim Esen, Andrew Kinsman, Majeed Kayhan, Dean Lisowick, Soroush Mahmudi, Skandaraj Navaratnam, Abdulbasir Faizi and Kirushna Kanagaratnam.
Police believe the men, many of whom were last seen in Toronto’s Gay Village neighbourhood, had ties to the LGBTQ community. Their disappearances date back to 2010.
McArthur, a self-employed landscaper, was arrested on Jan. 18, 2018. His trial is scheduled to begin in Jan. 2020.
None of the allegations against McArthur have been proven in court.
CTV News Legal Analyst Edward Prutschi believes the “significant development” could be the announcement of a guilty plea.
“My basis for that is that we’ve got a trial date set way off in the distance… and yet there have been quite a number of court appearances happening at fairly regular intervals,” he told CTV News Channel on Monday. “The frequency of them so far in advance of trial struck me as being an indicator that there (were) still very significant discussions going on between Crown and defence.”
Even a guilty plea for just one of the charges would see the 67-year-old locked up for the remainder of his life, Prutschi added.
“Even if he pleads guilty to only one, it’s a life sentence,” he explained. “I mean, that’s the mandatory minimum with no eligibility of parole on a premeditated first-degree murder for at least 25 years.”
Prutschi also floated another possibility for the “significant development.”
“It could mean that there are more charges coming and police want to announce something new in that respect,” he said.
