An international manhunt is under way for the Canadian porn star suspected of sending dismembered body parts to political party headquarters amid fears that he could strike again.
Luka Rocco Magnotta, 29, is believed to have fled Canada after filming the murder of his sexual partner and posting the video on the internet.
The hunt is focusing on France following reports that he may have flown to Paris before the remains of his victim had been discovered.
Interpol said it had issued a red notice — effectively an international arrest warrant — to police forces in its 190 member states.
But crime experts warned that it could be difficult to track Magnotta, a bisexual who often dresses as a woman and who also uses the names Eric Clinton Newman and Vladimir Romamov.
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Canadian police believe he prepared his escape with care after they discovered that he had posted a six-step guide on how to disappear on an internet site.
“For best results under normal circumstances, a minimum of four months is really necessary to successfully carry out the heroic actions necessary to leave your old life behind,” it says.
“Cut personal ties with everyone who knows you. The most important thing to remember here is to accomplish this slowly: pull out too abruptly and your friends and associates will become immediately suspicious.”
The search for Magnotta began when a male torso was discovered in a suitcase behind his flat in the Côte-de-Neiges district of Montreal on Tuesday.
On the same day, Jenni Bryne, an adviser to Stephen Harper, the Prime Minister of Canada, opened a box that had been sent to his Conservative Party headquarters. In it was a severed foot. Post office workers then found a hand in a parcel that was addressed to the country’s Liberal Party.
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Police made the link to a ten-minute video of a murder, named 1 Lunatic 1 ice Pick, that had been posted online a few days earlier.
This showed a man tied naked to a bed while being attacked with an ice pick and a kitchen knife against a soundtrack featuring True Faith by New Order.
The dead man was reported to be a Chinese student named Lin Jun, 33, from the city of Wuhan. He was reported missing on May 24.
The video remains visible online. Commander Ian Lafreniere of Montreal police said: “It’s horrible. I can’t believe people take advantage of watching this.”
RTL, the French radio, said Magnotta had bought an airline ticket to fly to France last Sunday.
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The French National Police Brigade for the Search for Fugitives is leading the hunt for him. Officers are combing through his Internet posts in a bid to find French people with whom he may have been in contact.
They are also keeping watch on bank accounts to check for credit card movements and seeking to determine whether he is using a mobile telephone.
Mr Magnotta, a male model and pornography film actor, is known to have visited France before. Photographs of him posing by the Eiffel Tower and the Moulin have been published on the internet.
Mr Magnotta also has links to London. Six months ago he was evicted from a flat above a pub in Wembley for non-payment of rent. He had shortly beforehand turned up at the offices of The Sun newspaper complaining about a story which had linked him with a video on YouTube in which a live kitten was fed to a Burmese python. He denied responsibility, although photographs posted on the internet showed him posing with an identical kitten and snake.
Pierre Mailloux, a Canadian psychiatrist specialising in criminal behaviour, said: “Considering what he has done, we can conclude that he is actively dangerous. The risk that he will commit another crime is very high.”
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In 2007, Magnotta gave an interview in which he denied rumours that he was having an affair with Karla Homolka, the wife of Paul Bernardo, the Canadian serial killer. Canadian media outlets suggest that he may have spread the rumours himself.
In the same year, he also took part in a casting for CoverGuy, a Canadian reality television show.