Body parts in mail triggers Canada manhunt
Police say severed foot sent to ruling Conservative party was not linked to organised crime, as they name a suspect.
Canadian police have named a suspect in a gruesome murder case involving a dismembered torso, mailed-out body parts, and what one senior officer said was the worst crime scene his force has ever seen.
Early testing has shown that a severed foot sent to the headquarters of the ruling Conservative party, a severed hand found in another package and a torso found in a garbage heap in Montreal all come from the same man, according to police.
Montreal police released a photograph of a man they said is Luka Rocco Magnotta, who they said also uses the
pseudonyms Eric Clinton Newman and Vladimir Romanov, and asked people across Canada to help locate him.
A man identified as Luka Rocco Magnotta appears on several internet sites, with photos that match those of the man in the police mug shots. The sites make references to Magnotta as the man shown in internet videos allegedly suffocating kittens and feeding one to a python.
Other websites describe Magnotta as a male model and a bisexual actor in adult films.
Police in masks combed through the suspect’s Montreal studio apartment on Wednesday, near where police found the torso in a suitcase.
“‘For most of the officers that were there all night long this is the kind of crime scene they’ve never seen in their career,” Ian Lafreniere, Montreal Police sergeant, said.
“The suspect and victim knew each other.
“It isn’t linked to organised crime.”
Bloodstained box
The packages with the foot and the hand, found on Tuesday in Ottawa, were mailed from Montreal.
Police discovered the severed foot after Jenni Bryne, a top political adviser to Prime Minister Stephen Harper, opened a bloodstained box at Conservative party headquarters on Tuesday.
When Bryne opened the box, a foul odour overcame the office.
“It was such a horrible odour. I’m sure many of us will not forget it,” Conservative Party spokesman Fred DeLorey said.
Police said the package was addressed to the Conservative Party of Canada and not to a specific person.
Police confirmed on Wednesday that they intercepted a second package containing a human hand at an Ottawa postal facility late on Tuesday. Police would not say where the package was addressed.
Ottawa police said they were consulting with counterparts in Montreal after a janitor there discovered a severed male torso in a suitcase in a heap of garbage behind an apartment building on Tuesday.