Police on Wednesday probed a new twist in the grisly ”Canadian Psycho” murder case after new body parts sent from Montreal turned up at Vancouver schools, as the suspect awaits extradition from Germany.
Authorities were still trying to determine if the human hand and foot discovered in separate packages at the two schools on Tuesday were indeed those of the killer’s victim, 33-year-old Chinese student Lin Jun.
Luka Rocco Magnotta, a 29-year-old Canadian porn actor, was arrested Monday in Berlin after a week-long international manhunt and is awaiting extradition to Canada for murdering Lin, believed at one point to have been his lover.
Magnotta allegedly filmed himself on the night of May 24-25 killing Lin with a pick axe and dismembering the body before sending a foot and a hand to the headquarters of Canadian political parties, including Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s Conservatives.
A series of new videos from Magnotta — likely filmed after the murder — have appeared on the Internet and appear to be authentic, according to police.
In one, posted on YouTube, a seemingly cavalier Magnotta is seen smoking and says, ”what’s up and hi to all my fans,” while Madonna’s song ”La Isla Bonita” plays in the background.
Police called the initial video showing the murder ”sordid” and said the crime scene — an apartment on Montreal’s busy Decarie Boulevard — was virtually covered in blood.
The victim’s torso, which has also been identified as belonging to Lin, was discovered in a suitcase outside Magnotta’s apartment building, but his head and his second hand and foot were all unaccounted for before Tuesday.
Montreal homicide investigators have taken over the Vancouver probe into whether the latest body parts belonged to Lin, who had been studying computer science at Concordia University in Montreal before his gory death.
Vancouver police said the packaging and addresses on the boxes sent to two schools there, in the far west of the country, were similar to those on the parcels discovered at the political offices in eastern Canada.
Montreal police spokesman Ian Lafreniere told reporters that a note was included with one package sent to a Vancouver school, as well as one of the packages delivered to Ottawa, but did not discuss the contents of the notes.
After a warrant was issued for Magnotta’s arrest, local media reported that a note sent with a severed foot to Conservative Party headquarters indicated that more body parts had been sent in the mail, and that the person who dismembered the victim would kill again.
Magnotta, who fled Canada on May 26, initially to Paris, was picked up on Monday on an Interpol warrant by German police in an Internet cafe in Neukoelln, a working-class district of Berlin.
He offered little resistance, saying simply: ”You got me,” a German police spokesman said.
It is not clear when he will be extradited to Canada but the move is expected in the coming days.
Canadian authorities said Magnotta will face charges of first degree murder and committing indignities to a body. He is also expected to be charged with publishing and mailing obscene matter to Canadian politicians.
The suspect, who resided in Montreal but is originally from Toronto, has been dubbed the ”Canadian Psycho” and the ”Butcher of Montreal” for a unfathomable murder that could have come straight out of a horror movie.
Lin’s grieving parents, accompanied by his sister and uncle, arrived in Montreal late Tuesday from China to meet with Chinese diplomats, police and university administrators, the Chinese consulate told AFP.
Yan Shi, head of Concordia University’s Chinese Student Association, was among those who greeted Lin’s family at the airport, and described their arrival as ”heartbreaking,” CBC reported.
Lin’s mother ”was not even able to even walk straight, so we had to carry her,” the student representative said.
Authorities are mulling whether to investigate an Edmonton-based website for publishing the video of Lin’s dismemberment, believed to have been posted by Magnotta before he fled Canada.
Police are probing three other videos of Magnotta which appeared on the Internet after the suspect fled Canada.
In addition to the ”fan” video with the Madonna song, a second clip shows the suspect filming himself while music from the band New Order plays. A third video shows him peeking out the window of a dimly-lit apartment.
Montreal’s serious crimes unit said it believes the videos were filmed after Lin’s murder.
”All we can say is that we’ve seen the videos and they appear to be authentic,” Lafreniere told AFP. ”But we have to ensure the videos’ veracity and figure out when they were filmed.”
Magnotta, who has worked as a bisexual porn star and as a gay prostitute called ”Angel,” has changed his name and used several aliases. He had several fraud convictions on his record.
A series of judge-imposed conditions reportedly banned him from owning or using a camera or a computer, and from accessing the Internet. – AFP
