Police identify dismembered body found in a suitcase in Montreal

photo credit: Gawker

by Seyi Lawal

The Montreal police have confirmed that the body found dismembered in a suitcase in the city was a 33-year-old Chinese man named Lin Jun. Jun moved to Montreal from China to study engineering and computer science at Concordia University. He lived alone in the city but was a well-liked part-time employee at a convenience store.

It turns out that Lin Jun’s misfortune was to make the acquaintance of alleged killer Luka Rocco Magnotta. “We believe the victim and the suspect knew each other,” Montreal police commander Ian Lafrenière said. “He was not a stranger. This was not a random attack.”

The owner of a dépanneur where Jun worked part-time said he was a responsible employee who was appreciated by customers. Kankan Huang said he knew something was amiss when Jun didn’t show up for work last week because he had never missed a shift since he was hired last August.

Police required the help of the Chinese embassy to locate his parents so they could inform them of their son’s murder on Thursday. Canadian Foreign Minister John Baird said on Twitter that he spoke to China’s ambassador to convey his “deep condolences on the senseless killing of Chinese student Jun Lin.”

A friend reported Jun missing on May 29, though Jun’s family said it lost contact with him on May 24 – one day after his torso was found in a suitcase outside Magnotta’s apartment building in the city’s Snowdon district.

A Montreal Police spokesman said Jun and prime suspect Magnotta were “engaged in sort of a relation”, but would not explain further. Magnotta is believed to have killed and dismembered Lin Jun, sexually interfered with his corpse, videotaped the crime, and posted it on the Internet, and mailed his body parts to political parties.

Since the new findings, additional charges have been filed against Magnotta at the Montreal courthouse on Friday, including two that alleged he mailed the body parts to Ottawa. Magnotta is also charged with using the mail system “for the purpose of transmitting or delivering anything that is obscene, indecent, immoral or scurrilous” which is also an offence punishable by up to two years in prison.

The third additional charge – besides first-degree murder and committing an indignity to a body – involves the video Magnotta allegedly posted on the Internet where he is believed to be the person depicted dismembering a body. The charge is part of a section of the Canadian Criminal Code called “corrupting morals”.

Police confirmed Friday the murder was committed on the night of May 24 to 25, and that Magnotta flew out of Montreal on Saturday, May 26 to Europe. Jun’s torso and the foot and hand were mailed to the Federal Conservative and Liberal parties and were discovered on Tuesday, May 29.

In a chilling reminder that the suspect is a man who has adopted several aliases over the years, transformed his face with plastic surgery, and registered Internet posts detailing how to disappear, police warned that he could be anywhere, including back in Canada.

An online trail dating back several years paints Magnotta – a self-proclaimed gay porn star who was born Eric Newman in Scarborough, Ontario – as a sadistic scofflaw with a penchant for recording his disturbing exploits.

An extremely disturbing video purporting to be of Jun’s torture and dismemberment surfaced online last week on the website Best Gore, but has since been removed. It allegedly depicts a man performing sex acts on a mutilated corpse as well as consuming parts of it, and letting a dog feast on the rest.

Officers with 30 years’ experience said it was the worst scene they had ever seen on video.

Web sites that post the videos could face charges, Lafrenière said, but for now, the police officers are focused on tracking down Magnotta.  “We need to get him back and bring him to (where he needs to be), which is behind bars.”

Source: The Montreal Gazette

One comment

  1. RIP Jun Lin.

    The other guy looks like a cross between my brother-in-law and a vampire. EEK!

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