All language subtitles for The Detectives (2018) 3x04 - Project Houston (English)

It was quite shocking
to people to realize

what had been going on in
the Gay Village in Toronto.

Skanda Navaratnam was last seen

in September, 2010,

leaving Zipperz nightclub
with an unknown man.

I think we found another one.

Someone's definitely
targeting these guys.

Concern is growing
in the Village tonight

as police look for leads in
the disappearance of 3 men.

What can you tell us about Chefmate50?

Said he killed this guy
and he killed that guy.

You believed him?

Yeah, I believed him.
He scared the shit out of me.

This guy is dangerous.

You think we have a
serial killer on our hands?

- Bruce McArthur.
- I know that guy.

Bruce McArthur was arrested
for choking somebody.

We let this guy go.

You wouldn't think that
he could hurt a fly.

This all seems like some
kind of sick fantasy.

What sort of monster do you think I am?

The stuff in nightmares.

In 30 years in law enforcement,

I've seen a lot of
different types of crimes,

but none that would quite compare

to what I saw investigating this case.

- Synced and corrected by Firefly -
- www.addic7ed.com -

_

When this investigation
really started rolling,

it was Debbie Harris who
was working in 51 Division

in late 2012.

It was first thing in the
morning when she got the call

that would eventually lead to
one of the most disturbing cases

in Toronto history.

Good morning.

This message is for
Detective Debbie Harris.

My name is Detective Roland Keller.

And I have very important
information for you

about a Toronto homicide.

I'm calling from Bern
Police in Switzerland.

Switzerland?

Detective Keller.

Detective Keller, this
is Detective Debbie Harris

from Toronto Police.
You left me a message.

Thank you for returning my call.

I have information for you
about a Toronto homicide,

and I'm afraid it's
really quite disturbing.

Is this about a particular homicide?

Skandaraj Navaratnam.

I trust that you're
familiar with the case, yes?

Skanda Navaratnam. Yes, very much so.

I was lead on his missing
person's file 2 years ago.

We're still looking for him.

Skanda was originally from Sri Lanka

and lived in the Gay Village.

He was reported missing

about 6 days after somebody
had last seen him leaving a bar.

There was a lot of work done

between 2010 and 2012
trying to find him.

Are you saying he was murdered?

Yes, I'm afraid so.

We have a very credible informant

who believes Skanda has become
the victim of a cannibal.

Excuse me? Did you say "cannibal"?

Now that's a shocking...

story to be told.

This cannibal is in Switzerland?

Actually, no. He's in Toronto.

I know this sounds very strange,

but our informant is never wrong.

I will send you documents,
and you will understand.

Auf Wiedersehen.

Debbie worked the information
until she felt it was credible.

That's when I was
introduced to the case.

You think that Skanda was cannibalized?

That's right, Hank,

by someone operating
in the Toronto area.

Is this for real?

You could hear a pin drop in that room.

And I'm sure that Debbie
felt very uncomfortable too

in a room of seasoned
homicide investigators,

making this allegation

that a cannibal was operating
within the City of Toronto.

So, who's the informant
that provided that tip?

Bern police won't say. They've
assured me he's credible.

What makes him so credible?

This isn't the first time he led police

to a real-life cannibal.

A year ago, he led
Slovakian police to this guy:

Matej Curko.

They conducted an undercover operation,

which ended in a shootout.

The authorities in Slovakia

had found multiple
victims around the property

that he had killed and
eaten parts of these victims.

That added a lot of legitimacy
to what Debbie was telling us.

The informant met Curko

on a cannibal-fetish
website called Zambian Meat.

He believes that he
met another Curko there,

a Canadian man known as Chefmate50,

who claims to have killed
and cannibalized Skanda

on his farm north of Toronto.

I traced Chefmate50's IP address

to James Alex Brunton,

a retiree out of Peterborough.

Married, no priors.

He does a lot of volunteer work

at the local hockey associations.

You think this guy cannibalized Skanda?

That's why I'm here.

I need your help.

According to the informant,

Brunton is searching for more victims.

If you're picturing what you think

could possibly be a cannibal,

you're not picturing Mr. Brunton.

He comes across as a
mild-mannered elderly gentleman.

You wouldn't think that
he could hurt a fly.

Hank, can you take the lead on this?

We'll have our tech-crime
guys talk to Brunton.

We'll monitor his online conversations

to make sure he's not
hunting for a new victim.

Once you have some evidence
that Skanda met with foul play,

Homicide has to get involved
in that investigation.

I guess we have to dive into
this whole cannibal world,

learn what we can.

I'm gonna need to learn
how to navigate this site.

What is a longpig?

Someone who wants to be eaten.

Somebody who wants to be eaten?

Yeah, a "chef" is a cannibal

and a an "iron chef" is
a top-ranking cannibal.

- What's Brunton?
- A chef.

This cannibalism forum, it
was completely foreign to me.

I had no idea that
something like this existed.

And what do you gotta do
to become an iron chef?

Prove you're worthy of a promotion

by serving a meal to an iron chef.

That's how cannibals get promoted.

Disgusting behaviour.

It's just a bizarre, bizarre world.

It's all in the file here.

I suggest you learn the lingo as well.

The people on this site
are suspicious of newcomers.

I'll set up a bunch of
accounts under different names.

See if you can connect with
Chefmate50, get him talking.

Okay, will do.

_

I remember sitting at a computer,

digging into this online community.

I still have flashes through my mind

of some of these images.

They were talking about how...

they are going to...

kill somebody,

how they're going to
eviscerate somebody,

how they're going to butcher...

somebody and prepare
them to be consumed.

It messed with me.

I think it would mess with
anybody who would see that.

How do we know what's real here?

The trick became
separating the fantasy...

from the actuality.

This all seems like some
kind of sick fantasy to me.

How do we know Brunton's real?

The informant is convinced he's real,

just like Curko.

I need you to go talk to the informant

and find out what makes him so sure.

_

As a cop, you really get
socialized from day one

into some really bizarre worlds.

That's him.

Saying to yourself:

"I've seen it all,
nothing can shock me".

And then something
like this comes along.

We had Debbie fly to Switzerland

to interview this informant.

My name is Markus Dubach.

Thank you for coming forward

with the information on Chefmate50.

We had no idea this network of cannibals

even existed in Canada.

Neither did I...

before I go looking.

Why did you look?

About, uh...

2 years ago, I suffered deep depression.

Um... I wanted to kill myself.

As foolish as it sounds, um,

I believed, uh,

sacrificing myself to
a cannibal would, uh...

... give my life a greater meaning.

That's when I found Zambian Meat.

Mr. Dubach was struggling
with depression.

And he somehow got some solace

out of participating in this website

and living a fantasy.

We've been looking through that website.

It's hard to tell what's
real and what isn't.

Much of the site is indeed a fantasy.

But Curko wasn't, the
Slovakian cannibal.

Matej Curko was very real.

What made you think he was genuine?

He used very sophisticated software

so authorities could not
track our conversations.

And, uh, after I agreed
to meet with him,

he gave me very precise directions

to a spot in the forest
where he will, uh...

... torture and kill me.

And then, uh...

he would carve me and,
uh, use special chemicals

to dispose of the remaining parts.

It definitely went further
than he wanted it to go

to the point where he'd
contacted Swiss authorities.

Did Chefmate remind you of Curko?

It was as if I was
talking to the same person.

He said he would pay for
my plane ticket to Toronto.

He told me how to avoid
security cameras at the airport.

Uh, he asked that I
must bring my computer

so he can erase all my accounts.

And he said, um, we
would go to his farm,

where he will, uh...

... he would make me...

disappear.

How did this link to Skanda?

He told me he consumed
human flesh recently, so...

I looked it up.

But we were told that
he admitted it to you.

Chefmate told me, uh...

he had eaten someone in Toronto.

He also said that he
preferred homosexuals.

So, with this, I went online

to search for gay men
missing in Toronto,

and Skandaraj was the first result.

I believed right away it was him.

So, you're not certain it's Skanda.

I believe you would know
better than me, uh, detective.

In reality, all Dubach had

was an online confession from Brunton

to killing a brown-skinned gay male

from Toronto's Gay Village.

We weren't sure that
it was Skanda Navaratnam

that we were talking about here.

So once Debbie came back to
Toronto with that information,

we opened it up and said:

"Let's see if anyone
else fits that profile".

"And let's look at any missing males

from 2010 to 2012,

linked to the Gay Village

who are either brown skinned

or could be perceived
as being brown skinned".

All right, we just spoke with this guy.

He's not missing.

Said he went, uh, back to Pakistan,

left his wife and didn't tell her.

Majeed Kayhan,

popular guy around the Village.

Last seen at a family wedding.

Reported missing by his son
2 months ago, still missing.

He was reported missing

11 days after he actually was last seen.

And that really puts the investigators

behind the eight ball.

And you're not going to
find surveillance video

11 days after somebody's last seen.

Two possible victims.

Hey!

I think we found another one.

Abdulbasir Faizi,
reported missing in 2010,

last seen leaving the Village.

His car was found a few days later

on Moore Avenue in Toronto.

I pass that area every
day on my way to work.

- I've never heard of this.
- That's just it.

Faizi's family reported him missing,

but they live in
Mississauga, not Toronto.

So, police in Mississauga
took on the case,

even though he was last
seen in the Village.

Abdulbasir Faizi lived in Mississauga,

to the west of Toronto,

which is another jurisdiction.

He was a closeted gay male,

who we could associate to the Village

through subsequent police interviews.

Faizi's car was found parked right here.

They canvassed door to
door in this entire area.

They brought in the K9 unit,

searched through this
ravine and the cemetery here.

Nothing. A couple of weeks later,

several witnesses reported

seeing him back in the Village.

Where?

The Black Eagle, one of the bathhouses.

But they never found him?

- That makes 3 possible victims.
- Are there any more?

That's all.

Everyone else has been accounted for.

So, any one of these men could
have been Brunton's victim.

We now had not one, but 3 men,

all of similar ethnic appearance,

all missing from the
Gay Village in Toronto.

You think that's a coincidence?

I don't believe in coincidences, Hank.

I think that's a problem.

That's a big problem.

Now that we've established
that there are 3 missing men

that could potentially be
victims of Mr. Brunton's...

_

we have to put surveillance on him.

We put a tracker on his vehicle.

We have to keep an eye
on him and his movements

and, hopefully, gather more evidence

to support our investigation.

All three of these individuals

were from South Asian countries.

And they are marginalized
as being gay males.

They are marginalized as
being visible minorities.

These were all victims
selected to avoid detection

and becoming vulnerable to a predator

who takes advantage of that.

That made me angry.

Someone's definitely
targeting these guys.

The problem is we can't prove it.

We've got no bodies.

We don't even have proof of a crime.

Our prevalent theory is:

Have all of these individuals
fallen prey to a cannibal?

So, we have to start a task force,

get to the bottom of it.

_

Are we suggesting Brunton

is behind all 3 of their disappearances?

All we know for sure is
that 3 men from the Village

have gone missing under
suspicious circumstances.

But we also know Brunton's involvement

in the cannibal community

suggests he could be behind this.

There's very little in
police records on Mr. Brunton.

We knew where he lived.

We knew what his family situation was.

We knew he was involved
with a hockey league

in the Peterborough area.

Have you connected with him
on the cannibal website yet?

Yeah. We're just getting
to know each other.

He's one strange dude.

Mr. Brunton was making claims

that he was looking for
a willing participant

who wanted to be
killed and cannibalized,

and then described to him:

"Okay, here's how I'm going to kill you.

And here's how I'm
going to cannibalize you.

And here's the parts of your body

that I'm going to eat first".

It's a big shock and a real eye-opener

as to what is actually
going on in that world.

We'd be best to get into his computer.

Okay, let's get a warrant to clone it.

If he's behind this,

then we're gonna have to stop him fast.

_

And we found a timeframe

when Mr. Brunton was out of the house.

We effected the entry
to clone his computer.

_

It was very creepy to
walk into that house,

not knowing what you were going to find.

Just knowing about
what this guy has done

in that world of the dark web
and the cannibalism fetish,

it's extremely disturbing.

_

How are we doing?

We retrieved millions of files.

I'm already seeing
links to our missing men.

The content of the computer
is revealing material

which is disturbing

and adds some credence
to the cannibalism theory.

I managed to retrieve artefacts

from Brunton's computer
of Faizi and Skanda.

They're file fragments.

Whenever you surf the Internet,

all the sites you visit
leave bits of data

on your computer's hard drive,

even if you erase the history.

Now, in this case,

we have artefacts that show
Brunton, Faizi and Skanda

were all members of a dating site

that connect older
men with younger ones.

Good. So, Brunton was
in contact with them?

Not necessarily.

Brunton could have
gotten these artefacts

from simply looking at their profiles.

Skanda Navaratnam and Mr. Brunton

had been on the same dating website.

And, perhaps, a picture of Skanda

was saved as a thumbnail
on the computer.

I would call them innocuous links,

but links nonetheless.

His search history is interesting.

Seems the day after Skanda went missing,

Brunton was searching
for cannibal recipes

and non-consensual torture.

That's kind of disturbing.

But it doesn't even give me
reasonable and probable grounds

to go out and arrest
him based on what we had.

But if definitely gave
us enough where we said:

"We have to investigate this

and see what else we can gather".

- What's that?
- It's a video file

Brunton deleted a few years ago.

I'm trying to rebuild
it to see what it is.

What about his activity on Zambian Meat?

His activity on the site
goes back several years.

He spends a lot of time bragging
that he's an old hand at this.

I found a bunch of exchanges

where he's trying to convince a slave

to come to Toronto to be eaten.

Even offers to pay airfare.

Says he'll take them to his farm,

where no one will find out.

And he reminds them
to bring their computer

so he can delete their accounts.

That's what the informant told us.

Well, did anyone accept the offer?

All I know is he claims to
be working with a Nathan,

but I haven't been able to
figure out who he is yet.

Nathan?

- An accomplice?
- Looks like it.

We became very interested
in trying to figure out

who this Nathan was.

You're potentially dealing
with a cannibal ring,

outlandish, bizarre behaviour

taking place in your own backyard.

Is that his farm?

Apparently. He says it's near Bancroft.

Bancroft?

Skanda's cell phone pinged off a tower

between Peterborough and Bancroft

just a few days before he went missing.

You know where those images were taken?

No, the digital info was wiped clean.

I mean, this guy knows
how to cover his tracks.

Mr. Brunton talked about a
farm that he had access to.

He talked about a
cabin he had access to.

He said, uh, we would go to his farm,

where he would make me disappear.

We had no bodies.

We couldn't say any of
these men had been murdered,

because we had no evidence
they had been murdered.

Well, we need to locate that farm.

I can run the pictures through
photo-mapping software,

put together a list
of possible locations.

Okay. Do it.

You can imagine we're talking
about Northern Ontario here,

and how many farms and
how many cabins there are.

I had some officers

and provided them with photographs

and geographical areas.

We would drive around,
trying to find that farm.

Even if you narrow it down to
a cabin in the Bancroft area,

that's still time-consuming manual work.

We were literally looking
for a needle in a haystack.

And we didn't even know if
there was a needle to find.

We also had a photograph
of the interior of a cabin

that we had recovered from a computer,

and we were trying to identify that.

We found a dungeon that somebody
had dug out underneath the farm.

But one of the more bizarre

was a tree in the middle of the woods.

We're thinking these
might be boots of victims.

And we did a forensic examination,
but never found anything.

There was no shortage

of strange, creepy moments like that.

After weeks and months of searching,

we had nothing.

Meanwhile, we still do
have constant surveillance

on Mr. Brunton.

We follow him to a gay, male strip club

in Downtown Toronto.

We had expected him to hook up

or target a brown-skinned male.

The potential of this whole scenario

is very terrifying.

I got the report back
from the undercover team.

We had surveillance on Mr. Brunton.

We followed him to a male strip club.

And he ended up hooking up
with a young male in the club.

And they make arrangements
to meet at a hotel.

But he never showed, so Brunton left.

- What did he look like?
- He was white, blond, about 19.

That doesn't really fit with
our missing men, does it?

We had a brown-skinned
undercover operator

at this club.

And he went for a young,
white-skinned male.

It wasn't what we were expecting,

so it did throw us off.

- Hank.
- Yeah.

Coffey found something on
Brunton's computer. Come on.

Hey!

Remember that deleted video
file I was trying to rebuild?

I'm leaving you boys

some extra towels by the lockers.

We found video...

... of teenage boys in
a hockey locker room.

They were in a state
of undress in the video.

And it was obvious
that they were not aware

that they were being filmed.

- How old are those boys?
- Mid-to-late teens.

It just made me angry.

Without hesitation,
that's child pornography.

- What hockey team is that?
- It's in Peterborough.

Call the Peterborough police,

see if they recognize
any of the hockey players.

We have to make sure that
he was the one holding the camera.

And see if anyone
remembers seeing Brunton

in the locker room that day.

There's something else.

Brunton's been communicating
with an underage kid.

He's been sending him graphic photos.

I traced the IP address to a kid
named Byron Duval in Colorado.

He and Brunton have been
talking for about 4 years,

and their conversations
are pretty graphic.

This contract saying

that Duval will be tortured
then eaten by Brunton

when he turns 18.

I found it on Brunton's computer.

The contract very graphically described

the method of being killed and butchered

and prepared and eaten
upon turning the age of 18.

It was one of the most
disturbing documents

any one of us had ever read.

We need to speak to him.

We've had the FBI track
him down in Colorado.

- Good job.
- Yeah.

_

What can you tell us about Chefmate50?

We, uh, we found this contract,

signed by you.

It's reprehensible.

How many of us have kids

who are in their
bedrooms on the Internet

being groomed like this and
being spoken to like this?

Disgusting behaviour, really.

Now tell the truth, son.

You're not in any kind of trouble.

We just want to know why you signed it.

Mmm, uh, it was a joke.

I was 14 when we connected,

and I thought it would be
cool talking to a cannibal.

How old are you now?

I just turned 18.

So, you know what
happens when you turn 18,

according to this contract?

Did you plan on going through with that?

No, of course not, no.

I just... I don't know
what I was thinking.

I was getting scared on my birthday,

'cause Chefmate was sending me messages

reminding me that we
signed the contract,

and he wanted me to
keep my end of the deal.

And you believed him?

Yeah, I believed him.

He's a real cannibal,

and he scared the shit out of me.

If you were scared of him,

why did you stay in touch with him?

The money.

He asked me to email pictures of myself.

What kind of pictures were those?

What kind do you think they were?

Naked pictures.

He was a perv.

I sent them for free

until I smartened up
and started charging him.

Do you remember him ever
mentioning any other victims?

Yeah, it was all the time.

Said he killed this guy
and he killed that guy...

and that he ate them at his farm.

Did he happen to mention any names?

Uh...

The only name I can remember is Nathan.

Nathan?

Yeah, said they'd come
to Colorado together

so they could have their way with me.

It freaked me out.

He's a victim.

That's not something that
you're going to forget.

That's scarring for your entire life.

And now we really needed
to find out who Nathan was.

- Hey!
- Hey.

I spoke with Peterborough Police.

They identified some of
the players in the video.

We also identified Brunton
as the one behind the camera.

He definitely made the video.

We have got enough to charge him.

Not yet.

He's a danger, Hank.
We need him off the streets.

No, I agree, but if we do that,

we may never find our missing men.

Are we still talking
to him on Zambian Meat?

Yes, he thinks one of our guys

is a European slave
that wants to be eaten.

Then we set up a meeting
between Brunton and our slave.

Hopefully, he'll lead us
straight back to the farm.

We'd be putting our undercover
operative in serious danger.

If anything goes wrong, we
take him down right away.

Brunton is dangerous.

I don't want him hurting anybody

just to further the investigation,

but you still have 3 missing people.

And what if Brunton
doesn't take the bait?

We'll just arrest him
for child pornography,

get him off the streets.

We need to see if Mr. Brunton

will attempt to pick up a willing victim

and take him to his farm,

murder them, butcher
them, cannibalize them.

The logistics of pulling
off something like this

is weeks and weeks of work.

Our undercover operative
posing as a slave

had made arrangements with Mr. Brunton

that he was going to
fly into Toronto Airport,

and Mr. Brunton was going to pick him up

and take him to his cabin
and have sex with him,

and then kill him and eat him.

This is our last shot.

Are we going to get some answers

as to what's happened
to these missing men?

I'm at the international arrivals.

I'll message Brunton I've landed.

_

Lots of fear, lots of
worry, lots of angst.

We can't put anybody's life at risk.

We have assets in
place around the airport

and surveillance on his house.

_

He's on the move.

I remember hearing over the radio:

"Okay, he's into his
car, and he's on his way".

And it was: "Oh my God!
It's actually happening.

He's going to come down to the airport".

_

Listen, don't take any chances.

If you feel you're life's at risk,

then make the arrest.

Copy that.

We have multiple surveillance teams,

including aerial surveillance.

Because you cannot lose that car

under any circumstances.

Debbie, how far are
you from the airport?

I'd say around 15 minutes.

- We'd be about 15 minutes out.
- Copy that.

I'll let you know once
I have eyes on him.

It's a huge build-up of
adrenaline and anticipation,

waiting to see what happens next.

Wait, what happened?

He got part of the way down the 401,

pulled off the highway.

Is he calling his
accomplice in the airport?

You don't know what's going on.

Hank, he stopped by
the side of the road.

I'm not sure why.

- Did he see you?
- No.

Stay put. Don't move.

Hey, Farid! Brunton just turned back.

I want you to call him now

and ask him how long before he arrives.

Copy that.

_

He's not answering.

He turned back.

I think he's gone home.

Back home, why?

Okay, so, he's heading
back up to Peterborough.

I'm not going to say
I was angry about it.

I don't think that was
the reaction that I had.

You know at the end of the day

that there's going to be charges laid.

Okay, Debbie, let's bring him in.

I'm leaving you boys some
extra towels by the lockers.

We found it on your computer.

A lot of people trusted
you in Peterborough.

Not sure how they're gonna
feel when they find this out.

That... that's an old video.
I forgot I even had it.

Did you molest any
of the hockey players?

Of course not! What sort of
monster do you think I am?

It's a little more recent.

Would you prefer we
called you Chefmate50?

- Look, I didn't hurt anybody.
- You didn't hurt anyone?

What about the contract
you had with Byron?

He thought you were
gonna come down there

on his 18th birthday and carve him up.

This whole cannibal thing,

it... it's like fantasy,
role playing, you know.

It... it's like a big Halloween party.

I never killed or ate anybody.

He's a little bit unnerving
with a high-pitched voice

and a bit of a gaze to him
when he's looking at you

that will certainly make you
a little bit uncomfortable.

W-what makes you think

I had anything to do with these men?

Do you know who they are?

Well, I... I've seen their
posters in the Village.

He claimed he didn't know
Majeed Kayhan or Basir Faizi,

but he did recognize Skanda Navaratnam

from a nightclub in the Gay Village.

I saw him a few times at Remington's.

Nice enough guy. Not my type.

And I believe Brunton was
being relatively truthful

for most of the interview.

So, who's Nathan?

Nobody, just a... a stripper
I... I knew from Remington's,

sort of a messed up kid.

And I haven't seen him for a long while.

It certainly was new information

that Nathan is more than just
a figment of his imagination.

And it certainly piques our interest

into identifying who Nathan really is.

A Peterborough man is
facing dozens of child porn

and sexual assault charges

after a coordinated bust between
Peterborough and Toronto Police.

65-year-old James Alex Brunton
was arrested yesterday.

Police say he was active

in Peterborough's
minor hockey community.

Brunton pleaded guilty

to several counts of possessing, making

and distributing child pornography.

We conducted a forensics examination

of Brunton's residence

and never found any trace
of any of the missing men

or evidence to suggest that
Mr. Brunton had anything to do

with the disappearance
of any of these men.

Is Brunton a cannibal? No.

Brunton is an individual

who has a fetish for cannibalism

and exploits that fetish online

for his own gratification.

It's a win in getting
Mr. Brunton in custody.

You know he's never going to be allowed

near a locker room again in his life.

And so, you're protecting the
victims and potential victims.

But you still have 3 missing people.

You think we have a
serial killer on our hands?

It's possible.

But right now, we just
have to follow the evidence.

Hey, guys!

I found another person
connected to two of our men.

What do we know about him?

He goes by Silverfoxx51.

What we discovered forever
changed the City of Toronto.

- Synced and corrected by Firefly -
- www.addic7ed.com -

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