Tweet
Interpol has posted the picture and profile of Luka Rocco Magnotta, 29, who is being hunted over the killing, first brought to light when a human foot was sent to the headquarters of Canada's ruling Conservative Party.
A hand was later found in the mail at an Ottawa post office, and a torso was discovered in Montreal. Police believe the remains belong to the same victim - and that Mr Magnotta, who once dated a convicted serial killer, is to blame.
Authorities say they believe the suspect, also known as Eric Clinton Newman and Vladimir Romanov, may have fled the country.
Kitten killer
The mystery man has been linked previously to killing kittens, calling himself "the kitten vacuumer".
Indeed, Luka Rocco Magnotta has left an indelible digital footprint that links him to chatrooms, Facebook pages, blogs, porn sites and YouTube videos.
One such video showed him suffocating a pair of kittens, The Montreal Gazette reported.
Magnotta's "kitten vacuumer" Facebook video shows two kittens in a plastic bag, before the air is sucked out of it with a vacuum cleaner.
Two other videos depict Magnotta torturing and killing cats. In 2010 an animal rights group offered a $5000 reward to bring him to justice.
For someone who is trying to evade police, the fugitive has left a pretty large digital footprint, which allowed the authorities to track him down.
He even posted a blog on his personal website addressing the worldwide manhunt, complaining about "cyber stalking" and "media propaganda".
Magnotta said he was the target of an online conspiracy, though he did not specify who was behind the alleged “online manhunt”.
“I do not feel the necessity to address the specific accusations made in the posts,” Magnotta wrote on his personal website.
“They are so far from my character that responding to them will give them more credibility than they will ever hold.”
He also claimed that people had impersonated him on "hoax websites".
Porn star murder crime scene
The Montreal apartment where Magnotta lived. Picture: AFP
A video reportedly circulating online shows a man repeatedly stab another man with an ice pick and dismembering him, as a song from the soundtrack of the film "American Psycho" plays in the background.
"It's a video of the murder," police told the Daily Globe and Mail. The newspaper also reported that the footage showed acts of cannibalism.
An investigation was launched on Tuesday when a package sent from Montreal was partly opened by the receptionist at the Conservative Party office in Ottawa, who called police after seeing blood stains and being overwhelmed by the smell.
Hours later, a second suspicious package was intercepted by Canada Post at a nearby mail sorting facility. It "contained a human hand", said police.
Apartment crime scene door
Apartment crime scene inside
Police inspect Magnotta's apartment. Picture: AFP
Soon, the probe shifted to Montreal where a torso was discovered by a janitor in a suitcase in a pile of garbage. Police said the torso belonged to a white male. It is believed that the victim and the suspect knew each other.
"We're missing parts of the body so it's difficult at this time to positively identify the victim," Montreal police commander Ian Lafreniere told a press conference.
The investigation quickly brought police to a studio apartment overlooking an expressway in the neighbourhood where the torso was found.
After combing it for evidence, the doors and windows were left open to air out the "pungent" smell of death, the Ottawa Citizen reported.
A CBC reporter, who was let in by the building superintendent, said he saw blood stains on a bed mattress where police say the victim may have been killed, around a bathtub drain, and on other furniture.
Only two months ago, Mr Magnotta wrote in his last known public comments on a blog: "It's not cool to the world being a necrophiliac. It's bloody lonely."
Police have not said whether there was evidence of sexual assault on the victim.
He has also blogged about "how to completely disappear and never be found".
Crime scene bathroom
Police inspect Magnotta's apartment. Picture: AFP
Several websites describe Mr Magnotta as a washed-up porn star and hustler, who allegedly posted videos online of himself torturing kittens.
Online reports also said Mr Magnotta once dated Karla Homolka, who was convicted in 1991 of manslaughter following a plea bargain in the rape and murder of two teenage girls and her sister.
Homolka had claimed in testimony that helped send her husband Paul Bernardo to prison for life that she was abused and an unwilling accomplice to the murders.
But videotapes of the crimes later surfaced showing that she was a more active participant than she had claimed. She was released from prison in 2005 and moved to Montreal.
In a 2007 interview with a Toronto newspaper, Mr Magnotta denied knowing Homolka, who is reportedly now married with three children.
Contacted by Canadian media, Mr Magnotta's family members said they had not spoken to him in years after a falling out.
Comment