BERLIN – Porn actor Luka Rocco Magnotta will not challenge his extradition from Germany to Canada, where he is wanted for the macabre murder, dismemberment and apparent cannibalizing of a Chinese student, German prosecutors said Tuesday.
“He has been before the judge, who has confirmed the arrest,” a spokesman for the Berlin public prosecutor’s office told AFP. “He said he would not fight the extradition.”
In Montreal, police confirmed Tuesday that Magnotta, in a videotape believed to be of the murder, allegedly ate parts of his victim before mailing a hand and a foot to two of Canada’s main political parties, the Montreal Gazette reported.
“As gross and as graphic as it could be, yes, it was seen on the video,” said Montreal Police Commander Ian Lafreniere, according to the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.
Authorities still need to “absolutely prove” the authenticity of the video, he said.
Police also said the right foot, right leg and head of Lin Jun, 33, remained missing.
His torso was found last week in a suitcase in a pile of garbage near Magnotta’s apartment, triggering a global manhunt for the 29-year-old porn actor and stripper, who apparently flew to France and then took a bus to Germany.
Magnotta was arrested Monday at an internet cafe in a working district of Berlin, reportedly while reading news stories about himself. He surrendered without resistance, saying simply, “you got me.”
According to Canada’s Globe and Mail newspaper, Montreal police have heard from law enforcement forces across North America and Europe to check on any possible links between Magnotta and unsolved killings in their areas.
“In Montreal alone we have probably 100 files going back a number of years that we’ll look at,” the paper quoted Commander Denis Mainville, the head investigator of the Montreal police major crimes unit, as saying.
German police spokesman Stefan Redlich, quoted by the Gazette, said he had visited Magnotta in his cell at a detention center before his court appearance and he was “quite meek. They told me that he had passed a quiet night without incident.”
He said Magnotta, who had spent the night alone in his cell, had a meal of bread and cheese Monday night and bread and jam Tuesday morning.
Later Tuesday, the Canadian was driven to the red-brick Moabit prison in central Berlin in a police van, AFP reported.
Senior Berlin prosecutor Martin Steltner told The Globe and Mail the extradition process would not take too long.
“The extradition process is very complicated in Germany, and it can take months, even years — but not in this case,” he said. “It will be much easier to get him to Canada.”
Magnotta is the only suspect in the death of Lin, apparently recorded in the grisly video he posted online showing him stabbing another man to death with an ice pick while a background track plays a song from the film “American Psycho.”
Although police initially said Magnotta and Lin were in a relationship, Chinese media reports quoted Lin’s friends as saying they were not involved, AFP said.
Magnotta, who appeared to consider himself a master of disguise and once wrote an internet post about how to disappear without a trace, tried to change his appearance as he fled authorities.
Mainville, quoted in the Globe and Mail, said, “I’ve heard a lot of experts and pseudo-experts suggest he was either stupid or trying to get caught. On the contrary, he was fairly prudent, changing his appearance, wearing wigs, glasses, frequently changing clothes.
“He was not leaving little pebbles behind him. But luckily, he made mistakes.”
Magnotta also left a clue that became obvious only in hindsight: according to French police, he travelled from Paris to Berlin under the false name Tramell, AFP reported.
Catherine Tramell was the name of Sharon Stone’s character in the 1992 movie “Basic Instinct.” She murdered her lover with an ice pick.