Suspect in body parts case returns to Canada
MIRABEL, Quebec - The Associated Press
In this photo provided by Montreal Police, Luka Rocco Magnotta is taken by police from a Canadian military plane to a waiting van on Monday, June 18, 2012, in Mirabel, Quebec. AP Photo
A Canadian porn actor suspected in the dismemberment of a Chinese student arrived in Canada on Monday via military transport from Germany, where he was arrested this month.Luka Magnotta did not fight his extradition. He is suspected of killing Jun Lin and sending body parts to Canadian political parties and schools. The head is still missing. Police said they would ask Magnotta where it is.
Investigators say Magnotta posted a video online showing him having sex with the dismembered corpse.
Montreal police Cmdr. Ian Lafreniere said Magnotta’s plane landed at Mirabel airport just outside Montreal.
A convoy of police vehicles with flashing lights rolled out to meet the suspect. Half a dozen men escorted him down the stairs of the plane and into a minivan. Armed guards stood by. A handcuffed Magnotta, dressed in a green long sleeve shirt and black jeans, said nothing as he was escorted into the van.
"We’re extremely happy with the result today," Lafreniere said. "This is not the end of the investigation. We’re missing an important part of the investigation which is the head of the body."
He said they hope to help the family mourn by telling them where the head is.
Lafreniere said Magnotta’s return went smoothly. He called the military flight an extraordinary measure but said there was no way they were going to bring him back on a commercial flight with other people sitting onboard.
Magnotta, 29, will appear in court Tuesday, Lafreniere said. A defense attorney will likely be designated then, said Rene Verret of Quebec’s prosecutors’ office.
Canadian Justice Minister Rob Nicholson said in a statement that Magnotta was removed from Berlin on Monday by a Canadian military transport.
"The Government of Canada thanks the Government of Germany for their swift and decisive action in this matter," Nicholson said, adding that they would have no further comment.
Canadian Public Safety Minister Vic Toews noted that Magnotta himself sped up the process by declining to contest his extradition.
Martin Steltner, a spokesman for Berlin prosecutors, said Germany’s federal government gave formal approval for the extradition a few days ago. Magnotta’s court-appointed lawyer during the extradition proceedings, Evelyn Ascher, could not be reached late Monday.
Magnotta was caught reading stories about himself at an Internet cafe in Berlin earlier this month after he spent a few days partying in Paris.
Lin’s torso was found last month in a suitcase at a garbage dump in Montreal outside Magnotta’s apartment building.
The case first emerged when a package containing a severed foot was opened at Canada’s ruling Conservative Party headquarters on May 29. That same day, a hand was discovered at a postal facility, addressed to the Liberal Party of Canada.
About a week later, a foot and hand were found mailed to two schools in Vancouver. Police said notes were included in most of the packages but declined to say what they said. DNA tests have confirmed that all the body parts belong to Lin, a Chinese national studying computer science at Concordia University.
Magnotta is wanted for first-degree murder, defiling a corpse, threatening the prime minister and using the mail system for delivering "obscene, indecent, immoral or scurrilous" material.
Yan Shi of the Concordia Chinese Students Association said Lin’s family remains in Montreal, but he hasn’t heard any reaction from them to Magnotta’s return. The family traveled to Canada from China upon learning of Lin’s death.
Police said Magnotta and Lin, 33, were in a relationship.
