Kirushna Kumar Kanagaratnam ‘may have been killed in 2015’
The name of the second Sri Lankan victim of an alleged serial killer in Toronto was revealed by the police in a news conference on April 16.
The eighth victim of alleged serial killer Bruce McArthur is named as 37-year-old Kirushna Kumar Kanagaratnam who had been living in Scarborough after coming to Canada from Sri Lanka in 2010 and was not reported missing. He was not linked to the Gay Village like the other seven men whose remains were found in the flower planters in properties where the alleged killer worked as a landscaper.
Asked by a reporter whether he was a refugee from Sri Lanka, the police spokesman, Det-Sgt. Hank Idsinga, did not divulge the victim’s immigration status. He added that Kanagaratnam is believed to have been killed between Sept. 3 and Dec. 14, 2015.
According to the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation Kanagaratnam had come to Canada along with 492 Sri Lankan asylum seekers brought to shore off the B.C. coast in August 2010 after a three-month journey from Thailand
The passengers claimed refugee status but were detained on suspicion that some of them had links to the LTTE (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam). According to media reports Kanagaratnam lost his appeal for asylum and became homeless.
Gabriel Chand, a Vancouver-based immigration lawyer involved in the refugee hearings of those on the cargo ship, told CBC News he met Kanagaratnam, whom he describes as a ‘nice guy.’ “He was a soft-spoken guy,” he said. “He spoke English relatively well.” T. Pranavan who accompanied Kanagaratnam in the refugee ship said they became friends during the arduous voyage and spoke about their brothers who died in the war. “I’m really sorry about him,” Pranavan told CBC News. “When we were in Sri Lanka, we feel our lives were gone so that’s why we came to Canada — to save our lives.”
Det-Sgt. Hank Idsinga said Kanagaratnam had been identified with the help of an international government agency but he refused to name the country or the agency adding that the Tamil-speaking officers of the Toronto police are helping in the investigations.
A few weeks ago Toronto police took the unusual step of releasing a picture of a dead man’s face to the media in an attempt to trace the background of the unidentified person, speculating that it could be another victim of McArthur. The picture led to the identity of Kanagaratnam and human remains found in a flower planter matched with his DNA profile. The police said his direct family members are not living in Canada except for some distantly-related cousins.
National Post daily in Toronto further adds that Kanagaratnam’s disappearance did not go unnoticed in Jaffna, Sri Lanka, where most of his family lives. On Dec. 9, his brother wrote on Facebook that the family had not heard from Kanagaratnam in a year. Another family member posted a local newspaper clipping that appeared to show that Kanagaratnam was missing overseas.
More than 500 tips poured in after the publication of the picture, leading to 70 possible identities, which was then narrowed down to 22. However, Idsinga said Monday that Kanagaratnam’s name was not one of those 22, and didn’t come up until after last week’s police news conference.
“While we are saddened, we are also tremendously proud and relieved to have been able to bring closure to the friends and family of Mr. Kanagaratnam and the seven other victims,” Idsinga told the reporters.
The 66-year-old landscaper is now facing eight first-degree murder charges including another Sri Lankan as a victim. He is charged in the deaths of six other men: Andrew Kinsman, 49; Selim Esen, 44; Majeed Kayhan, 59; Soroush Mahmudi, 50; Dean Lisowick, 47; Skandaraj “Skanda” Navaratnam, 40, and Abdulbasir Faizi, 42.
McArthur is reported to have targeted men, mostly recent immigrants, with fewer friends or relatives. The theory is that people would hardly notice if a person of that kind of background goes missing.
In February the human remains found in the landscaper’s flower pots confirmed as belonging to 40-year-old Sri Lankan refugee Skandaraj Navaratnam who was reported missing for eight years. A massive search of several houses where McArthur worked as a landscaper led to the discovery of human remains in flower planters.
“Navaratnam was definitely dating the guy (alleged serial killer), and he started working for him as a landscaper,” said a friend of Navaratnam who spoke to Toronto Star daily after the Sri Lankan’s remains were found.
Police have so far searched close to hundred properties where MaArthur had worked as a landscaper.
The alleged serial killer, who was under police surveillance, was arrested on January 18 after police who broke into his apartment found a young man tied to a bed in his 19th floor apartment. Officers were forced to make a quick decision to enter his home as they observed the man entering the high-rise where McArthur lived.
