Newly released documents show that when Toronto police started five years ago to probe the disappearance of three gay men, investigators checked on a dating website that alleged serial killer Bruce McArthur also used and two bars that he patronized.

The heavily redacted court papers give no indication that Mr. McArthur was in the sight of detectives until he became a suspect last year.

Instead, the documents outline how investigators dedicated much efforts into a tip that didn’t pan out about a suspected cannibal in Peterborough, Ont.

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Mr. McArthur was arrested last January. He has now been charged with eight counts of first-degree murder.

The new documents are affidavits that were unsealed at the request of media. They were used to obtain judicial authorizations during Project Houston, the task force looking into the disappearance of three gay men, Skandaraj Navaratnam, Abdulbasir Faizi and Majeed Kayhan.

After the Sri Lankan-born Mr. Navaratnam vanished from Toronto’s Gay Village in September, 2010, police got a production order to obtain his phone records. They also looked up his bank records and conducted a canine search.

They made no progress until 2012, when they got a tip that Mr. Navaratnam might have been the victim of a man who shared cannibalism fantasies online.

On Nov. 13, 2012, Detective Debbie Harris of 51 Division sought a court order to obtain e-mail records from Yahoo Canada. The case was urgent because of “potential for disregard of human life,” her application said.

While the suspect’s identity is redacted, other unsealed documents show that police focused on Peterborough resident James Alex Brunton, getting warrants to track his Mitsubishi car and to covertly enter his house to clone the data on his computers.

Homicide investigators had joined the task force, and one affidavit mentions that an officer who could speak German was also needed but further details are blacked out.

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The documents also indicate that Toronto investigators contacted 14 other Ontario police forces about their unresolved missing-person files.

During that same period, 51 Division also dealt with the disappearance in October of the Afghan-born Mr. Kayhan.

He lived downtown, a few minutes’ walk away from Mr. Navaratnam’s apartment.

The Houston task force also learned that Peel Regional Police investigated the December, 2010, disappearance of a Brampton resident, the Afghan-born Mr. Faizi. His last card purchases were made in the Village.

A Jan. 9, 2013, affidavit linked the three for the first time.

"During an investigation into other outstanding missing persons in the gay community, this occurrence as well as two other missing males of similar ethnic background have come to light. This is a serious concern,” the affidavit said.

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Subsequent documents mention that police looked into SilverDaddies.com, a dating website.

One affidavit said the e-mail address of SilverDaddies’ webmaster was forwarded to Detective Harris.

What investigators specifically sought was redacted but Detective Harris was to “follow up in regards to identifying the accounts of the three.”

Mr. McArthur also had a Silver Daddies account, where he described himself as shy but “a romantic at heart.” He was also known as an acquaintance of Mr. Navaratnam and Mr. Kayhan.

Sources familiar with the investigation but who were not authorized to speak publicly say that Mr. McArthur was interviewed by police in 2013 and in 2016 but he was not considered a suspect.

What the police found out about the SilverDaddies accounts is short and blacked out.

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Furthermore, the documents say that while data was available from SilverDaddies, it would only have been preserved for 90 days.

The investigators also checked several Village bars, including Zipperz, where Mr. Navaratnam was seen before his disappearance, and the Black Eagle, which Ms. Faizi had visited before he dropped out of sight.

Mr. McArthur was also known to frequent Zipperz and the Black Eagle.

In May, 2013, Mr. Brunton was arrested, and later convicted for making child pornography. However, he was ultimately not connected to Mr. Navaratnam.

It was only last year, when two other men vanished, that Mr. McArthur again came to the attention of police.

More documents are to be released next week, parts of thousands of pages of police affidavits in the McArthur case. However, the bulk of the material is still redacted.