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June 4, 2012

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Police hunt 'Canadian Psycho' in Paris area

FRENCH police said yesterday they have been scouring the Paris region for the Canadian former gay porn star suspected of killing and carving up his Chinese boyfriend as his videocamera rolled.

Police were certain that Luca Rocco Magnotta "is or was in the Paris region and particularly in Paris since at least Friday," a police source said, citing witnesses and material evidence.

With the help of Magnotta's cell phone signal, police have traced him to a hotel in the suburb of Bagnolet, which they visited on Saturday on a tipoff from a witness, a source close to the investigation said yesterday.

Magnotta, who has become known as the "Canadian Psycho," had left his hotel room where investigators found items such as pornographic magazines and airsick bags bearing the logo of the airline on which he left Canada for France over a week ago, the source said.

Magnotta's cell phone signal was detected on Saturday in the east of Paris, he added.

Magnotta, 29, allegedly filmed himself as he dismembered his boyfriend and then mailed the body parts.

French police have been carrying out "targeted searches" for Magnotta after Canadian investigators said the suspect boarded a France-bound plane on May 26 in Montreal.

They have searched a bar and two hotels in the northwestern district of Batignolles in the Paris, the police source said.

A witness said he saw police on Friday visit the bar Le Petit Batignolles where they viewed security camera footage, showed a photo of the suspect to the manager and left with empty bottles of Coke.

On Saturday the manager denied any visit by police.

The daily Le Parisien reported yesterday that investigators had questioned the manager of a bar in the northern area of Batignolles who said Magnotta had a Coke there late Wednesday.

"He was very nervous (and) he drank the Coke in one go. A man with an impressive physique came into the bar and started talking to him. They knew each other," the manager said, adding that the pair left together.

The daily also cited witness accounts that were "considered reliable" that the suspect was seen in two northern Paris suburbs.

Investigators have discounted many other alleged sightings of Magnotta.

Canadian media reported that Magnotta has been to Paris before, publishing photos showing him posing in front of the Eiffel Tower and the Moulin Rouge.

The suspect has been dubbed ''Canadian Psycho'' by the press because a video circulating online and believed to be linked to him shows a man stab another man with an ice pick and dismember him while a song from the film "American Psycho" plays in the background.

Interpol on Thursday issued a Red Notice wanted-persons alert for Magnotta.


 

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