Man says kung fu saved him on date with alleged serial killer
A Canadian man is crediting his knowledge of kung fu with helping him survive a terrifying night with a Canadian landscaper accused of being a serial killer.
Peter Sgromo had just moved back to Thunder Bay, a city in Ontario, Canada, and reconnected last spring on a social media app with Bruce McArthur — the 66-year-old arrested and charged this Monday with first-degree murder in connection with the disappearances of five men, CBC News reported.
McArthur, whom Sgromo knew through mutual friends, said to get in touch next time Sgromo was in the Toronto area so the two could get together.
They did, and had a casual dinner with light conversation flowing like cheap wine, with topics from business to travel.
“We had no exchange about anything that would suggest that we were going on a sexual date or anything like that,” Sgromo said.
There was one thing that struck Sgromo as odd.
“One odd thing was that he had mentioned that he had met this guy in Italy, and I guess he was talking about the date he was on and he said, ‘Oh, he liked it really rough.'”
Sgromo didn’t read too much into it but was just surprised because he didn’t think rough sex was McArthur’s style.
At the end of the evening, Sgromo walked McArthur to his van, where the two started kissing.
McArthur offered to drive Sgromo back to his hotel and when the two got inside, Sgromo noticed it was “emptied out.”
Again, he tried not to read into it.
“Oh, OK, he transports things, so that makes sense,” Sgromo said to himself, knowing McArthur was a landscaper.
The two sat on a bench in the back of the van, where their canoodling intensified.
“We were kissing, kissing turned into some petting. Then he undid my shirt, undid his shirt,” Sgromo said. He added McArthur then grabbed him by the head and pushed him down toward his crotch.
“Then he really grabbed my neck, violently twisted it, right to his crotch and his pants were undone. That’s when I really was quite disturbed.”
He continued: “I think about that grip … For him to grab my neck with one hand, twist it like that, I literally thought one more second he would have snapped [it].”
But Sgromo, who took martial arts classes because of violent experiences he endured while living in San Francisco, acted instinctively and grabbed McArthur’s elbow by the funny bone until he was able to make him release his grip.
“Bruce, what are you doing?” he demanded.
Sgromo then told McArthur to drop him off at his hotel first so he could check on his ailing dog. Once there, he told him the animal was too sick, and he couldn’t leave it alone.
“To me, that was my escape,” Sgromo said. He never heard from McArthur again.
Now, seeing his face plastered across media reports, Sgromo is grateful he trusted his gut that night.
Investigators have found remains of at least three people in two planters they extracted from properties connected with McArthur in and around Toronto. Investigators expect to announce more charges soon.