Analysis of Magnotta’s computers finds pictures, clips matching kill video

MONTREAL — There were photos, video clips and data suggesting the computer had been used to access an online account of interest. Still Montreal police computer forensics expert Frank Massa said there was no definite evidence to determine Luka Magnotta’s computer was used to upload the gory video of a brutal killing.

Massa analyzed the contents of two computers relating to the killing of 33-year-old Jun Lin in May 2012 — one recovered from the piles of garbage outside the building where Magnotta was living at the time and the other from the apartment in which he was staying in Berlin prior to his apprehension there.

Much of the data recovered had been deleted from the laptop computer. And while a person with average knowledge of computers might assume that means the files are gone for good, Massa explained investigators are still able to recover whatever was once on the hard drive.

READ MORE: ‘You OK?’ Luka Magnotta asks mystery man bound to bed days before killing

Despite the evidence recovered from the computer — photos and videos matching those in the online snuff film, and “remnants” of an email sent to one of the sites that first published it — Massa said there was no proof the video originated on that computer. It’s quite possible the email was sent from that account, though he can’t say for sure it did.

Magnotta faces five charges including first-degree murder, committing an indignity to a human body, publishing obscene material, criminally harassing Prime Minister Stephen Harper and other members of Parliament and mailing obscene and indecent material.

He admitted to committing the actions of which he’s accused but pleaded not guilty. His lawyer said he intends to argue Magnotta was so psychologically sick, he wasn’t in control of his actions during Lin’s killing and dismembering.

READ MORE: Luka Magnotta’s gore video: Why is the court seeing it?

Massa also told the court he found an mp3 file of the New Order song played over the so-called murder video had been on the computer and subsequently deleted on June 1, 2012.

The laptop recovered in Berlin had one user account, under the name “Catherine.” Magnotta’s defence lawyer Luc Leclair asked Massa whether he was aware this was the name of Sharon Stone’s character in the film Basic Instinct.

Massa replied that he’s not a movie buff and couldn’t say one way or another.

READ MORE: Luka Magnotta surveillance videos released

The same movie was mentioned during testimony earlier this week, when British journalist Alex West was on the stand. West first met Magnotta in December 2011 while following a story about someone who was posting videos of themselves killing kittens online. Anonymous emails sent to his newsroom led West to a room above a pub in London where Magnotta was staying.

Two days after their 30-minute encounter, West’s newsroom received an email that staff believed was from Magnotta and about which they contacted police, West told the court.

READ MORE: Journalist describes meeting with ‘defensive and cocky’ Luka Magnotta in England

While displaying the email for the jury, Leclair made a point of highlighting the similarity between that line and one spoken by Stone’s charter in Basic Instinct: “Killing isn’t like smoking. You can stop.”

Before rising for the weekend, the court played recorded testimony taken from a witness in France over the course of several days this past June.

The court heard from the man who sat next to Magnotta on the flight to Paris May 26, 2012, the man who drove the defendant to the Paris hotel, the manager at the hotel where he spent several days and the ticket agent who sold Magnotta a bus ticket to Berlin from France.

Save his seat mate on the flight, the witnesses described Magnotta as polite and average, with the bus driver recalling the defendant’s groomed eyebrows and makeup.

The man who took the Air Transat flight from Montreal to Paris told the trial lawyers he found Magnotta bizarre and thought he was trying to hide his face with his hair and hands.

The trial is set to continue Monday morning.