WARNING: This story contains disturbing content that may not be suitable for some people. Discretion is strongly advised.
OTTAWA – An international manhunt is on after Montreal police named a suspect accused of killing a man and mailing parts of his body to various locations, including the headquarters of the Conservative and Liberal parties in Ottawa.
Police allege Luka Rocco Magnotta, 29, a man with a controversial past, is behind the grisly crime. He is also known by the names Eric Clinton Newman and Vladimir Romanov.
Late Wednesday night, media reports indicated a letter was attached to the severed foot delivered to the Conservatives’ headquarters. The note said four more body parts had been mailed out. Both police and postal officials are said to be working now to track down these grotesque parcels.
The letter also stated the killer would strike again.
Magnotta is not known to the police, but the name is well-circulated on the Internet as belonging to a bisexual model and porn star, allegedly appearing in kitten killing videos posted online.
Magnotta was rumoured to have romantic ties to Karla Homolka, the ex-wife of school girl killer Paul Bernardo. He denied the allegation in a 2007 interview with the Toronto Sun.
The discovery of the macabre crime, which may have been videotaped and posted online, began Tuesday when a suitcase containing a male torso was found outside a Montreal apartment building.
Meanwhile in Ottawa, employees at the Conservative party headquarters just blocks away from Parliament Hill received a blood-splattered package containing a severed foot.
Authorities later intercepted a second package, addressed to the Liberal party, containing a severed hand at a Canada Post distribution centre.
Police found another hand and foot in the Montreal apartment, but warned more body parts could still be delivered.
“There are pieces of the body that are missing. Some body parts were sent by mail, one to the Conservative party headquarters, these are all pieces of evidence to us,” said SPVM (Montreal Police) spokesman Ian Lafreniere in French. “There were other body parts sent by mail and the police are still investigating.”
Police are not releasing the name of the victim, a white man, as body parts are still at large.
Montreal police spent the night and part of Wednesday morning searching an apartment near where the torso was found, a crime scene Lafreniere called “difficult.”
Inside the apartment were a blood-stained mattress, bloodied bed sheets and spots of blood on the carpet.
Richard Payette lives across the hall from the suspect’s apartment and said he woke up to detectives and a pungent odour.
“I never smelled dead body (before), but I’ve smelled bad meat,” Payette said. “If I go by my sense of smell, it certainly wasn’t just hamburgers.”
Payette said he did not know Magnotta well, but described him as a quiet, Caucasian man, who spoke English and often wore a black wig. The last time Payette saw the man was about three days ago.
The man who discovered the torso-laden luggage told Global News it had been laying out for nearly a week when he decided to open it.
“Every time I passed by it smelled very bad and there were flies around it. I took a closer look and there were maggots coming out, worms coming out,” said Mike Nadeau.
Nadeau and another neighbour decided to cut the lock and see what the suitcase contained.
“We opened it up and looked inside and there was a body with no head, just a torso,” he said.
There is still no indication of what motivated the murder and mailings, but Lafreniere said there is no reason to believe the Conservatives or other potential recipients of the sordid packages were linked to the crime.
“The people who received the packages are not part of the crime scene or crime equation,” he said.
The severed foot was not addressed to a specific person, but was opened by Jenni Byrne, one of the party’s top strategists and the mastermind behind the 2011 election campaign.
“The package was brought to Ms. Byrne because it looked suspicious,” said Conservative party spokesman Fred Delorey. “It was opened, Ms. Byrne examined it, saw the blood and smelled the odour and made the decision to call police.
A criminologist at Simon Fraser University said the method is usually linked to organized crime, kidnapping, threats, an attempt to send a symbolic message or mental illness.
“My money is on this person being somebody with a psychiatric disorder,” said Rob Gordon, the director of criminology at the B.C. university. “It is simply the most credible. Unless you’ve got specific messaging that goes along with it, then the threat doesn’t make much sense, then the symbolism doesn’t make much sense, unless people know what you are trying to communicate.”
Gordon added: “I’m not sure what rotting hands and feet have to do with the Conservative party although I could spend some time speculating.”
Parliament Hill reacted to news on Wednesday with shock.
Public Safety Minister Vic Toews called the package containing a severed human foot disturbing, but said it’s up to the police to investigate.
Immigration Minister Jason Kenney, who was making the announcement with Toews, said he hoped the criminal who did this would be found.
“It’s horrible and I’m thinking of the workers that were faced with that situation and I hope police get to the bottom of it,” said NDP leader Thomas Mulcair.
Interim Liberal Leader Bob Rae said everyone should cooperate with police to get to the bottom of this terrible crime.
“Apart from the bizarre nature of this event, behind it is a human tragedy and we should all reflect on that,” he said.
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