46: Bruce McArthur: Inside the Toronto Serial Killer Case

46: Bruce McArthur: Inside the Toronto Serial Killer Case

August 26, 2026 · 48 min · Episode 46

About this episode

This episode explores the case of Bruce McArthur, a serial killer in Toronto, through interviews and investigations into his life and the failures of law enforcement.

How did Bruce McArthur murder eight men in Toronto’s Gay Village while hiding in plain sight? In this episode of UNMARKED, James Buddy Day returns to Toronto to retrace the footsteps of one of Canada’s most notorious serial killers—speaking with people who knew McArthur, walking the streets where he found his victims, and revisiting the properties where he concealed their remains. Drawing from Buddy’s original investigation for the Canadian Screen Award-winning documentary Catching a Serial Killer: Bruce McArthur , we examine McArthur’s double life, his psychology and evolving fantasies, the murders of eight men, and the extraordinary opportunities police had to identify him before his eventual arrest. Why did investigators fail to stop McArthur despite witnesses, previous arrests, survivors, and his name appearing in an earlier investigation? And what does his case reveal about the vulnerable populations serial killers choose to target? Research in This Episode: Aggrawal, A. (2009). A new classification of necrophilia . Journal of Forensic and Legal Medicine, 16 (6), 316–320. Show Notes: If you want to go deeper into the Charles Manson case, my book Charles Manson: The Last…

People in this episode

Host: James Buddy Day

Topics covered

Keywords

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Canadian Screen Award, Manson Family

Books & works: Catching a Serial Killer: Bruce McArthur

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