Magnotta eyed in more deaths

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This article was published 08/06/2012 (5085 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

MONTREAL — The widespread travels of Luka Rocco Magnotta, both geographically and on the Internet, are fuelling speculation he may have killed elsewhere.

Montreal police are working with the Los Angeles Police Department to determine whether Magnotta could have been involved in the murder and beheading of a 66-year-old man in California in January. A woman walking her dog discovered the head of Hervey Medellin near the famous Hollywood sign on Jan. 17. A police search turned up Medellin’s hands and feet in the area, but the rest of his body remains missing.

Montreal police confirmed Thursday they’ve been in contact with the LAPD, state media reported, and will be passing on any relevant information that surfaces as part of their investigation.

Magnotta is the main suspect in the murder and dismemberment of Chinese student Lin Jun in Montreal. Lin’s torso was discovered in a suitcase behind Magnotta’s apartment building on May 29, and his foot and hand were mailed in separate packages to the federal Conservative and Liberal parties; the package destined for the Liberal HQ was intercepted by authorities before delivery.

Similar packages sent to two Vancouver-area schools are believed to be related. The victim’s head remains missing.

Montreal police said Magnotta, a porn movie actor and male escort, may have been in Los Angeles at the time of Medellin’s murder. Sun UK news reported a Los Angeles pimp claims to have hired Magnotta around that time, and that one of Magnotta’s Facebook pages offered his services as a masseuse in Los Angeles weeks after the murder.

“Any time you’re investigating something, you see something similar, of course you’re going to be in contact,” said Officer Bruce Borihanh, a spokesman with the LAPD. “You try and share information as much as you can.

“Our investigators are in contact with Canadian investigators and they’re just trying to determine Magnotta’s whereabouts during our investigation of the Hollywood Hills murder and that’s it.”

Online glimpses into Magnotta’s self-obsessed world continue to surface. The latest discovery is a tape of Magnotta auditioning for a plastic-surgery reality show on Canadian cable network Slice.

In the video, obtained by Global News, a producer asks him: “What do you see when you look in the mirror now?”

Magnotta replies he sees “all the little flaws,” then says “This might sound really weird,” but he wants two small bumps he refers to as devil’s horns removed from his forehead. He adds that no matter how much cosmetic surgery he has, he will probably never be satisfied with his appearance.

Magnotta, 29, has been held in a Berlin prison since he was arrested there Monday. German prosecutors said Thursday he likely will be extradited back to Canada by the end of June.

In Montreal, the mayor’s office said a moment of silence will be held Monday before the monthly city council meeting in honour of the memory of the murder victim. Mayor Gerald Tremblay has extended his condolences to Lin’s family members, who arrived in Montreal Tuesday to retrieve their son’s body.

 

— Postmedia News, with files from The Canadian Press