Accused killer Bruce McArthur was reportedly romantically involved with missing man Skandaraj Navaratnam, who disappeared from Toronto’s Gay Village in 2010.

According to a CBC News report, which quoted two of Navaratnam’s friends, the missing man met McArthur in 1999 and he worked for McArthur as a landscaper. Their relationship began in the early 2000s.

Both Kevin Nash and Jean-Guy Cloutier told CBC that McArthur was still a part of their friend’s life in or around 2008.

Navaratnam’s still-active Facebook account appeared to be linked to that of McArthur at the time of McArthur’s arrest last week. McArthur is facing charges of first-degree murder in the presumed deaths of Andrew Kinsman and Selim Esen, who went missing on different days in 2017 from the area around the Church-Wellesley Village.

The news of the relationship between McArthur and Navaratnam comes as Toronto police told the Star that McArthur was never a suspect during their task-force investigation into Navaratnam’s disappearance — or the disappearances of two other men from the same area.

Police spokesperson Meaghan Gray confirmed that McArthur was not a suspect for Project Houston investigators, who probed the disappearances of Navaratnam, Majeed Kayhan and Abdulbasir Faizi starting in late 2012. All three men frequented the Village, and all went missing between 2010 and 2012.

Navaratnam has been missing since Sept. 6, 2010. The Sri Lankan refugee was last seen in the early hours of that morning, leaving Zipperz — a gay bar formerly at Church and Carlton Sts. — with an unknown man.

His friends told the CBC that Navaratnam was generally attracted to older men, so his involvement with McArthur made sense. Nash noted that their relationship was non-monogamous. The last time he bumped into Navaratnam was at a nightclub in 2008, he said.

Toronto police have charged 66-year-old Bruce McArthur with first-degree murder in the disappearances of Selim Esen and Andrew Kinsman from the city’s gay village last year. Police say they are still looking for the bodies. (The Canadian Press)

“He was still doing the landscaping, was still dating or was still with Bruce at the time, and that’s where we ended the conversation,” Nash told the CBC.

Read more:

Project Houston focused on three missing men in gay village

Accused killer Bruce McArthur’s 2003 assault conviction led to DNA order

‘He would not kill anybody,’ says sister of man charged in Gay Village slayings

Police also said Tuesday that three properties under investigation because of links to McArthur have been returned to their owners.

Police have been present at multiple properties in Toronto and another in Madoc, Ont., as part of an ongoing investigation into the disappearances of Kinsman and Esen.

“I can confirm that two properties have since been released back to the owners — the property in Madoc and the property on Conlins Rd. (in Scarborough),” Gray said in an email.

Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading...

“Five locations have been identified as part of the ongoing investigation. What role, specifically, they play will not be disclosed at this time.”

Later Tuesday, Gray confirmed a third property on Concorde Place, near the Don Valley Pkwy. and Eglinton Ave. E., was released.

Police remained at a Thorncliffe Park residential building near Overlea Blvd. and Don Mills Rd. on Tuesday, with two vehicles parked outside, including a forensic identification services van.

Multiple Toronto police vehicles were also outside a Leaside house on Mallory Cres., near Bayview and Moore Aves., including a forensic identification services truck and two police dog service vehicles.

With files from Fatima Syed