Stories of Murder in Toronto's Gay Village
Sawyer Cowley 
Auctioneer Chadwick Francis, 37, was murdered in his home in the Greenwood and Mortimer Avenues. On August 6, 2020, police were called to his home, where they found his body. He may have been dead for several days, and although police are calling it a homicide, they are not yet releasing the cause of death. … Read more
Julie Berman was an internationally known trans rights activist living in Toronto. Fifty-one-year-old Berman was found in her Brunswick Avenue and Harbord Street area home on Sunday, December 22, 2019. Police had been called to the scene, where they found her suffering from “significant” face and head injuries. She was pronounced dead in hospital. Berman … Read more
A homicide in Canada must include culpability to be considered murder. That means, the courts must believe the killer is deserving of blame. The fact that the courts must decide culpability, or blameworthiness, opens the legal charge of murder, to the influence of homophobia. Currently, murder in Canada is split into first degree and second … Read more
Alleged Convicted gay Toronto serial killer Bruce McArthur has, as of April 2018, been charged with the deaths of eight men, most of whom are gay/LGBT+. Sgt. Detective Hank Idsinga has said police are reviewing cold case murder files dating back to the 1970s where gay men were slain in the downtown core or after leaving gay … Read more
Murder Village is not a newspaper, we don’t report on crimes as they happen. The discovery and arrest of gay, Toronto-based serial killer Bruce McArthur is being covered in depth in various media (you can search links on Google, Duck Duck Go and NewsLookUp, among many others). Our site is dedicated to presenting information in … Read more
Tess Richey, 22, was out celebrating on November 24, 2017, with friend Ryley Simard at Crews & Tangos, a Gay Village drag bar, although Richey is not LGBTQ+. They left the bar at approximately 1:30am, heading north toward Dundonald Street where they hung out with a friend of Richey’s on her front porch. With them … Read more
On April 14, 2017, Selim Esen, 44, disappeared in the area of Bloor St. East and Ted Rogers Way, on the outskirts of the Toronto Gay Village. His disappearance would be tied 10 weeks later to that of Andrew Kinsman. Selim Esen, who arrived from Turkey just a few years before his murder. Police said … Read more
Toronto police had a photograph of a dead man’s face, and parts of his body, before they had his name. Alleged serial killer Bruce McArthur, who is already facing seven counts of first-degree murder, is rumoured to have taken photographs of his victims in various poses up to and including the “death pose”. Parts of … Read more
Brent Gartner, 51, was longtime friends with Roderick McIntosh, 67, and had even loaned him money. On January 10, 2015, McIntosh went to Gartner’s home to get his money. He would kill Gartner. The killer told his roommate he was going to Gartner’s apartment to pick up a little over $200. McIntosh asked his roommate … Read more
The body of Allan Lanteigne, 49, was found still dressed in his coat, face down in the front foyer of his home on March 3, 2011 just before 3:30p.m. He had been beaten to death. Lanteigne was a caterer and an accounting clerk at the University of Toronto and, when he did not show up … Read more
On December 29, 2010, Abdulbasir Faizi, 42, disappeared. On April 11, 2018, Toronto police announced they charged alleged serial killer Bruce McArthur with his murder. Faizi was a married immigrant from Afghanistan, with a wife and two daughters. He was last seen leaving his work at a Mississauga printing company around 7 p.m. on the … Read more
Christopher John Andrew Skinner was 27 when he was purposefully struck and killed by an SUV on October 28, 2009. He was killed in Toronto’s Entertainment District at Adelaide St. East and Victoria Street and police immediately began searching for CCTV and security video footage from businesses in the area. He was engaged and planning … Read more
On Monday July 14, 2008, sixty-four-year-old William Ross Magill was pronounced dead at his home on 40 Delisle Avenue. He had been stabbed. Magill, how usually went by Ross Magill, had been a gifted interior designer prior to his three-year descent into sex and drugs and alcohol. Friends said he had begun to bring home … Read more
Seventy-two-year-old Harley Walker was born in Manchester England and immigrated to Toronto in 1958 where he found employment with the CBC for 30 years. He went missing on October 13, 2006, after meeting a man, David Reid, on an internet gay chat room. The two men exchanged messages, and met for coffee for several months. … Read more
Lawrence “Larry” Roosevelt Callahan was born in Botwood Newfoundland on July 13. 1941. He died at St. Michael’s Hospital in Toronto on June 10, 2006, after being savagely beaten in his home. It took more than a month for the police homicide unit to be called in to investigate his death. Callahan, 64, was found … Read more