As Luka Magnotta sits behind bars awaiting extradition in a Berlin jail, there have been new developments in the case in Canada. Packages containing human remains were delivered to two schools in Vancouver. And Montreal police say they are investigating possible links between the suspected killer and other unsolved homicides and assaults.
Magnotta is alleged to have killed 33-year-old Chinese student Lin Jun before dismembering and sexually desecrating his body and sending parts of it to political parties in Ottawa. It’s a crime police believe was videotaped and later posted online.
Late Tuesday afternoon, Vancouver police held a news conference to say packages containing a human foot and a hand were delivered to two area schools.
However, Deputy Chief Warren Lemcke says he can't confirm whether the packages are connected to the killing of Jun and the international manhunt for his killer.
"The investigation is only a few hours old now so I can't link it to anything right now," said Lemcke.
"As we progress in the investigation, we will provide any information that we can."
Police said the package containing a hand was opened at False Creek Elementary School, near the Olympic Village, at about 1 p.m. Tuesday afternoon.
Within an hour, a foot was found by staff at St. George's School, a private boys school on the city's west side.
Looking for links to unsolved cases
The shocking method of the killing has police in Montreal investigating whether there are other similarities with other unsolved crimes – a move, they say, that is standard practice.
“When you are talking about a case like this, what is particularly specific is the modus operandi, the way it happened,” Montreal police spokesman Ian Lafreniere said. “It would not be very intelligent not to look at other possibilities and other cases.”
Without providing details, Lafreniere said Montreal police have been contacted by other police forces about possible links to crimes in their jurisdictions.
One of the cases Montreal police may be asked to look at is the death of 18-year-old Valerie Leblanc in Gatineau, Que. Leblanc's body was found beaten and burned in a wooded area behind a local community college campus on August 23, 2011.
“Probably in the next few weeks we will be in contact with them, but they are very busy right now in Montreal,” Gatineau police spokesman Pierre Lanthier told Global News.
Magnotta will not fight extradition: police
Police in Montreal provided an update on their investigation Tuesday morning, after Magnotta briefly appeared before a judge at a massive police station in Berlin.
The 29-year-old Canadian man indicated he would not object to extradition to Canada where he faces five charges, including first-degree murder in Lin’s slaying. German police said Magnotta refused to discuss any other details of his case with the judge.
Magnotta spent a night alone in a small prison cell after his arrest at an Internet café on Monday in Berlin. Authorities said they offered Magnotta the choice of a shared cell, but he chose to be alone.
Guards at the detention centre described Magnotta as "quite meek," said German police spokesman Stefan Redlich. "They told me that he had passed a quiet night without incident."
"He was wearing clothes given to him by the police. He was asleep on a wooden bed with a mattress in a tidy German prison cell that measures 1.5 metres by five metres. After having bread and jam for breakfast. He also had a light meal of bread and cheese last night."
The date of Magnotta’s return to Canada is still unknown, but the fact that he will not fight the extradition will speed up the process.
Magnotta will be held in a Berlin jail pending a formal extradition request to be made by Canada, after which he will appear before a judge again.
More on when Magnotta will return to Canada here.
Martin Steltner of the German prosecutor’s office told Global News a special extradition unit within the office is handling the case and that police will have to determine whether Magnotta committed any crimes in Germany, which could slow things down.
In Canada, the Ministry of Justice has already started filing the necessary paperwork to bring Magnotta back to Canada to face justice.
Also coming to Canada is the family of Lin, according to a newspaper in the victim’s hometown of Wuhan, China.
The Wuhan Morning News is reporting that Lin’s parents and two other family members have received a visa on Tuesday and will likely arrive in Montreal on Wednesday.
Profile: Remembering Lin Jun
Body parts missing, some eaten: new police allegations
Montreal police shed new light on the circumstances surrounding Lin’s death during their press conference on Tuesday.
The horrifying details of the crime started coming to light on May 29 when Lin’s torso was found in a suitcase in a Montreal alley.
CAUTION: CONTAINS GRAPHIC CONTENT THAT MAY NOT BE APPROPRIATE FOR ALL READERS
Meanwhile in Ottawa, a package containing a severed foot was opened at the Conservative party headquarters. Another package containing a severed hand was intercepted before it could arrive at the Liberal party headquarters.
Timeline: The Body Part Case
On Tuesday, police revealed a search of the garbage heap turned up other human body parts, knives and papers.
"The head is still missing," Lafreniere said. "And one hand and one foot is still missing."
Police revealed new allegations that Magnotta may have eaten pieces of his victim.
"As gross and as graphic as it could be, yes, it was seen on the video," Lafreniere said.
The police have no indication other body parts were mailed, but are monitoring packages carefully with the help of Canada Post.
Surveillance footage from the Montreal postal outlet where Magnotta allegedly mailed the gruesome packages to Ottawa shows only two parcels being mailed.
The same surveillance footage helped police launch their manhunt for Magnotta. The images matched those of a man captured taking the suitcase and other items to the trash on security footage at the apartment building.
A search of the apartment revealed a bloody mess on the mattress, fridge and bathroom, leading police to believe the dismemberment happened in the small studio flat.
DNA analysis on Tuesday confirmed the body parts sent in the trash, as well as those mailed to Ottawa belong to Lin.
Police still aren’t confirming the nature of Lin’s relationship with Magnotta, only saying they are acquaintances and the crime had nothing to do with race or sexual orientation.
With the evidence mounting, Montreal police issued on May 30 a Canada-wide arrest warrant for Luka Magnotta, a Scarborough native born Eric Clinton Newman and also known as Vladimir Romanov.
Montreal police said they confirmed Magnotta left for Europe from an airport in their city and immediately got Interpol involved, issuing an arrest warrant in French, English, Spanish and Arabic.
After nearly a week-long international manhunt, German police closed in on Magnotta on Monday as the fugitive was sitting alone in a corner of a 24-hour Internet café in an Arabian district near Berlin’s city centre.
More on how Magnotta was arrested here.
Magnotta was reading news reports about himself online when a civilian noticed him and flagged down a police patrol on the street.
Seven officers, six of whom were from a police school arrested Magnotta, who after giving several false names, admitted: “Okay, you’ve got me.”
Magnotta faces five charges in Montreal including first-degree murder, causing an indignity to a body, corrupting morals, threatening the Prime Minister and using the mail to deliver obscene materials.
With files from Canadian Press, Postmedia News and Global News’ Stuart Greer in Berlin.
Global News