WARNING: This story contains disturbing content that may not be suitable for some people. Discretion is strongly advised.
TORONTO – Police in France are actively searching for the Canadian porn actor suspected of killing and dismembering a man in Montreal, a gruesome case that has gripped Canada.
A senior French police official says he is "sure" Luka Rocco Magnotta is in France. Another official believes Magnotta flew from Montreal to Paris last weekend.
According to both officials, the French fugitive search unit has been ordered to search for Magnotta. A nationwide search is still under way in Canada, and on Thursday Interpol placed Magnotta on its wanted person's list.
Since Magnotta was named as the prime suspect in the murder and dismemberment case, disturbing details about the 29-year-old man's life have surfaced online.
A U.S.-based lawyer told Global News that on May 26 and 27 he told police in Toronto, Denver and Miami about a disturbing video posted online depicting the grisly murder and dismemberment of a man.
Roger Renville alleges his tip was ignored by police, saying the officer he spoke to insisted the video must be a fake.
Meantime, Friday's front page of The Sun newspaper, based in the U.K., recounts a meeting that took place between Sun reporter Alex West and Magnotta, who allegedly showed up at The Sun's London offices, exhibiting behaviour that was "highly suspicious."
West says the meeting left him shaken, calling Magnotta "one of the most disturbed and disturbing individuals" he had ever encountered.
The front-page article also details an email received by The Sun, they believe to be from Magnotta. A passage in the email allegedly reads: "I'll be back -- and this time the victims won't be animals."
Reporters Tom Wells and West say the email came six months after they quizzed Magnotta about a disturbing video of a kitten being fed to a snake. Wells and West say they took their fears to London's Met Police, who dropped the case, saying it was out of their jurisdiction.
Police on the hunt
The discovery of the violent crime began Tuesday when a Montreal janitor found a locked suitcase that contained a decapitated male torso outside of an apartment building in a working-class neighbourhood in the city.
Magnotta was a tenant in the apartment.
Meanwhile in Ottawa, a Canada Post mail carrier delivered a white box with a red heart scribbled on top to staff at the Conservative party headquarters just blocks away from Parliament Hill. The blood-splattered package contained a severed foot.
Hours later, officials say they intercepted a second package at the Canada Post distribution centre. It was addressed to the Liberal party and contained a severed hand.
Montreal police found another hand and foot in the Montreal apartment.
By Wednesday night, media reports indicated that a letter was attached to the foot delivered to the Conservatives’ headquarters. The note said that 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 that the killer would strike again.
Police are not releasing the name of the victim, a white man, as body parts are still at large.
They say the victim and suspect knew each other, though.
© Global News. A division of Shaw Media Inc., 2012.