Body parts of Toronto serial killer's victims found every day during excavation of ravine burial grounds, cops say

Officials say they have found more human remains on a property connected to Bruce McArthur, an alleged Toronto-area serial killer. (Toronto Police)

Each day during a two-week excavation of a Toronto ravine linked to an alleged serial killer, an investigator said officials continually discovered "different [body] parts" belonging to the man's victims -- including remains that were sometimes as small as a tooth.

Det.-Sgt. Hank Idsinga made the comments Monday in an interview with the Toronto Star newspaper as the investigation continues into the eight murders linked to former landscaper Bruce McArthur. The 66-year-old, who also worked as a mall Santa Claus, is alleged to have buried his victims in garden planters and in a ravine on a Toronto property he used to frequent for work.

Idsinga said the human remains recovered included items as small as bone fragments and teeth. Investigators had been combing the area for most of this year and focused on the ravine around the start of July.

“At the end of the day, I’m pretty confident that we’ve done about as thorough a search as we can possibly do, and hopefully nothing else turns up there in the future,” Idsinga told the Toronto Star.

Police have not said which of McArthur's alleged victims the remains found in the ravine belong to. They are currently being analyzed.

McArthur, who is set to appear in court again on July 23, is currently facing eight counts of first-degree murder. Remains from all but one of the victims have been recovered, officials said, and the slayings are each connected to the city’s Gay Village neighborhood.

McArthur is currently facing eight first-degree murder charges.

The search for remains also included other areas McArthur was known to visit.

“Between May and June 2018, Toronto Police Dog Services, with assistance from other GTA police services, searched 100 other properties related to Bruce McArthur’s landscaping business. Nothing was found,” police said in a past statement.

The motive for the killings, which occurred between 2010 and 2017, is still unknown, officials said.