Human remains have been sent to two schools in Vancouver in what police say could be a possible link to the gruesome case of the porn actor and alleged murderer Luka Magnotta, dubbed the “Canadian Psycho”.
Police said that they could not immediately confirm whether the body parts were the missing extremities of Mr Magnotta’s boyfriend, the Chinese university student Jun Lin, whose hand and foot were found last week when they were mailed to Canada’s top political parties.
Mr Magnotta, who is accused of dismembering and eating parts of Mr Lin, was arrested in Berlin on Monday after a week-long international manhunt.
He was caught at an internet café in the German capital, looking up stories about himself and the case online.
Mr Magnotta, 29, appeared in a Berlin court yesterday and said he will not fight extradition to Canada, where he faces several criminal charges related to the murder and dismemberment of 33-year-old Mr Lin.
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Several hours after Mr Magnotta faced court in Germany, police in Vancouver were called when body parts were found in delivered to two schools yesterday.
A package containing what appeared to be a human hand was opened by staff at False Creek Elementary School, while another containing what seemed to be a human foot was found by staff at St George’s private school for boys later in the day.
Police said no students or staff were specifically targeted in the incident, and the schools were cordoned off while forensic investigations took place.
Larissa Warrington, chair of the False Creek elementary parent advisory council, said that students were in school at the time.
“It is disturbing. It’s awful. Why would anybody do that? It’s very unsettling, as you can imagine, having children at this school,” she said.
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Constable Anie Lemieux, a spokesperson for Montreal police, said the contents of the packages could be linked to Mr Magnotta’s case, but further analysis of the remains found yesterday had to be conducted to determine their identity.
“We may suspect that it’s linked [to the Magnotta case] but we can’t confirm it for sure,” she said.
The search for Mr Magnotta began last Tuesday when a male torso was found in a suitcase behind his flat in Montreal. The same day a human foot was sent to the headquarters of the Canadian Conservative Party, and a hand was later found in the mail at an Ottawa post office.
Canadian police have confirmed that the remains discovered last week belong to Mr Lin, a former lover of Mr Magnotta. Mr Lin’s right hand, right foot and head are still missing.
Montreal Police have confirmed that they obtained video images of Mr Magnotta from apartment building surveillance cameras and from a visit to a post office in Côte-des-Neiges, a Montreal suburb, from where he allegedly posted parts of his victim.
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Police have also revealed that a horrific video of what they believe is Mr Lin’s murder which was posted online showed scenes of cannibalism. Authorities allege that Mr Magnotta filmed the killing in his Montreal studio apartment and posted it online.
Ian Lafrenière, the Montreal police commander, said that although police have not been able to conclusively confirm it, they suspect that Mr Magnotta ate parts of the victim’s body.
“As gross and as graphic as it could be, yes, it was seen on the video,” Commander Lafrenière said.
Shortly after the killing Mr Magnotta flew from Montreal to Paris, authorities said.
Mr Magnotta, who has a bizarre internet trail as a gay escort, a bisexual porn star and alleged kitten killer, managed to evade police for days while he partied in the French capital.
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French police were inundated with hundreds of tips and alleged sightings of the suspect, whose photo was splashed across newspapers, TV screens and websites worldwide over the past week, thanks to an Interpol alert.
Witnesses contacted French police with claims of having seen him at bars in the Bastille area of east Paris, said Christophe Crepin, a police union official.
“He needed to be seen, and to party,” said Mr Crepin. “Naturally some of the people who saw him broke out into a cold sweat when they recognised him.”
Mr Magnotta’s refusal to stay low eventually led to his capture. He was arrested on Monday while reading about himself at an internet café in Berlin after an employee recognised him from a newspaper photo and flagged down a police car.
He later appeared before a German judge and was ordered to be held pending extradition to Canada, where he faces charges of first-degree murder, indignities to a body, publishing and mailing obscene matter, and harassing the Canadian Prime Minister.
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Mr Magnotta told German authorities he would not fight extradition. He could be returned to Canada within days.