Police in Toronto have found more remains near the property linked to alleged serial killer Bruce McArthur, police said Thursday.
Officers recently resumed their search at the midtown Toronto home linked to McArthur鈥檚 landscaping business after allegedly finding the remains of seven bodies in planters on the property over the winter.
Det. Sgt. Hank Idsinga with the Toronto Police Service said the K9 unit searched the ravine behind the home several weeks ago and identified numerous areas of interest.
Officers began excavating on Wednesday and within hours found some human remains at one of the digging sites.
鈥淲e鈥檝e gotten a lot of false positives from the K9 units, so we were cautiously optimistic about finding anything,鈥� Idsinga told reporters on Thursday. 鈥淲e anticipated being here for weeks鈥nd when we found them that quickly, it was a bit of a surprise.鈥�
Idsinga anticipates officers will continue digging in the area until next week.
This marks the first time in the investigation that officers found remains outside of the seven planters.
The remains have been sent to the Ontario Forensic Pathology Service for identification, which could take months, depending on the method investigators choose to use.
Idsinga said it鈥檚 possible the remains belong to more than one person, or are the remains of the previous victims.
McArthur, 66, is already facing eight counts of first-degree murder in connection with the deaths of men with ties to Toronto鈥檚 gay village.
McArthur is alleged to have murdered Selim Esen, Skandaraj Navaratnam, Andrew Kinsman, Majeed Kayhan, Dean Lisowick, Soroush Mahmudi, Abdulbasir Faizi and Kirushna Kanagaratnam. Investigators have found the remains of all but one of the alleged victims.
As part of the vast investigation, officers have searched more than 100 homes in the Greater Toronto Area over the past seven months. This is the final area officers planned to search.
Idsinga said officers didn鈥檛 find any evidence at the other homes and have not found any evidence to link McArthur to any existing cold cases in the region.
McArthur鈥檚 next court date is scheduled for July 23.
With files from The Canadian Press
