French police are searching for a Canadian pornography actor suspected of killing and dismembering a man and posting his body parts to the offices of political parties.
A senior police official said he was sure Luka Rocco Magnotta, believed to have fled Montreal, was in France. Another said he had apparently flown to Paris last weekend.
Magnotta, born Eric Clinton Newman and sometimes using the name Vladimir Romanov, is said to know France well.
The police investigation was launched on Tuesday after a man’s torso was found in a suitcase behind an apartment building where Magnotta lived in Montreal, and a severed foot was discovered in a package posted to the Conservative party headquarters in Ottawa.
A hand was found in a separate package at a postal facility, addressed to the Liberal party of Canada.
It then emerged that on Friday, May 25th, a 10-minute film had been posted on amateur horror sites showing a man stabbing a naked victim with an ice-pick, as well as performing sexual acts and the dismemberment of the body while the song True Faith by New Order played.
Montreal police said they had taken down the film but it kept reappearing.
The victim was named yesterday as Jun Lin (33), a Chinese student who was believed to have dated Magnotta and was reported missing on Tuesday. Montreal police commander Ian Lafreniere said Lin was a Chinese citizen who studied at a university in Montreal.
– (Guardian service)