Toronto police are officially investigating what they think is a “serial killer” — and one who has taken care to cover up evidence believed to be buried across the city and whose murderous toll is still being tallied.

Toronto police Det. Sgt. Hank Idsinga unequivocally stated as much when providing the stunning news Monday of yet three more first-degree murder charges laid against Bruce McArthur.

The new charges mean the 66-year-old landscaper now stands accused of five premeditated murders.

“The city of Toronto has never seen anything like this,” Idsinga stated Monday.

And yet, there is likely more to come.

Calling the ongoing probe “unprecedented,” Idsinga said hundreds of officers are now involved in the investigation into McArthur, which includes a detailed search of 30 properties to which McArthur is linked through his landscaping business.

The lead homicide detective also revealed Monday that police had made a grisly discovery: dismembered, skeletal remains of three unidentified people in planters at a Leaside home. The remains are now undergoing DNA testing.

Investigators have seized 12 such planters and continue to search the properties with the belief that there are more remains to be recovered.

“We do believe there are more . . . . We have no idea how many more there are going to be,” Idsinga said. “He’s taken some steps to cover his tracks and we have to uncover these victims and identify these victims.”

Less than two weeks after announcing McArthur’s arrest in the deaths of Andrew Kinsmen and Selim Esen — two men who disappeared from Toronto’s Gay Village last year — McArthur has now been charged in the deaths of three more men, two of whom were previously reported missing.

According to court documents, police believe McArthur killed Majeed Kayhan “on or about” Oct. 18, 2012 — shortly before the 58-year-old Afghan immigrant was reported missing by his son.

Police believe McArthur killed Soroush Mahmudi, a diminutive professional painter, “on or about” Aug. 15, 2015, according to court documents — the last day the 50-year-old was seen alive by his home near Markham Rd. and Blakemanor Blvd. in Scarborough. He, too, was reported missing by his family.

Then, sometime between April 4, 2016 and March 15, 2017, police allege McArthur killed Dean Lisowick, a man in his mid-40s who had no fixed address at the time, and whose disappearance was never reported to police.

While Idsinga has previously confirmed that McArthur, who was known in Toronto’s Gay Village, was in a relationship with Kinsmen, police have not provided any more information about his connection to his other alleged victims.

Neither have police provided details about how the men died, although Idsinga previously said police had a “pretty good idea” of Kinsmen and Esen’s manner of death.

With the new charges, police now believe a killing spree began as far back as 2012 and continued until as recently as last June. But Idsinga was clear that police have no fixed idea of when the first killing may have taken place.

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Right now, police are probing “at least” to 2010, “and if we have to go back further than that we will,” he said.

That timeline is informed in part by the launch of Toronto police investigation, Project Houston, which probed the disappearances of Skandaraj Navaratnam, Abdulbasir Faizi, and Kayhan — all of whom frequented the Gay Village, and all of whom went missing between 2010 and 2012.

Idsinga stressed Monday that Project Houston, which included a thorough investigation by a team of officers, concluded without any evidence being found that would classify anyone as a suspect.

Little is known about how police zeroed in on McArthur. The linchpin of the probe appears to have been located by police on Jan. 17 — one day before McArthur’s arrest — but it’s not clear what that evidence entails.

Still yet to be explained is how police have sufficient grounds to lay five murder charges in relation to five deaths, but may not yet have the remains of any of the men. Idsinga said police could not yet say if the remains located in the planters belonged to the men McArthur is accused of killing.

“We have to wait for DNA tests, and we have to get tests from the people who are outstanding and their family members before we can identify the remains,” the detective said.

Asked Monday if police have uncovered some kind of record made by McArthur, Idsinga did not say, but stated briefly that McArthur had spoken to investigators.

Idsinga asked any homeowners who had contracted McArthur as a landscaper to contact police so investigators can search their properties. Police have access to McArthur’s client list.

Homicide Detective Sgt. Hank Idsinga updated the media on the case against Bruce McArthur on January 29. Toronto Police have charged McArthur with three additional counts of first-degree murder, bringing the total number of charges to five. Idsinga also said that McArthur is an "alleged serial killer." (Toronto Police Services/YouTube)

A grim-faced McArthur made a brief appearance at the College Park courthouse Monday morning. Wearing grey pants and a navy jersey, his voice cracked slightly when he was asked to state his name.

McArthur was remanded in custody and ordered to appear again, by video, on Feb. 14, a date already set at his last appearance. He was represented in court by a member of Toronto defence lawyer Ted Royle’s firm.

Speaking to reporters Monday, Toronto Mayor John Tory said he thought the ongoing investigation “will bring comfort to people who are very worried about this whole series of events, across the city, and in particular in the LGBTQ community.”

“And I’m trusting that the police are doing what they’ve been doing for weeks and months now, which is continuing their investigation as aggressively and competently as they do, and that they will have further news to report,” he said.

If you have any further information on Bruce McArthur or his alleged victims, or were one of his landscaping clients please contact us at city@thestar.ca.

With files from Victoria Gibson, Alex Mckeen, Betsy Powell, Ben Spurr and Alexandra Jones