Unsolved Miami Murder Could Be Canadian Porn Actor
Miami Police Will Work With Montreal Police on Dismemberment Cases
June 10, 2012 -- Miami police say they haven't ruled out the possibility that porn actor Luka Rocco Magnotta, who alleged killed his male lover, chopped up the body and mailed pieces of it to government officials, could have committed an unsolved murder in Miami in 2009.
The news comes days after Los Angeles Police confirmed there is no possible link between Magnotta and the chopped up body found beneath the Hollywood sign in January.
Magnotta, 29, was arrested in Berlin last week on murder charges. He allegedly filmed himself stabbed a Montreal college student to death with an ice pick, hacked the corpse to pieces and mailed them to government offices. He allegedly also had sex with some of the body parts.
The victim in the unsolved Miami case was Omar Laparra, 21, whose body was found in the Biscayne Bay, dismembered and floating in plastic bags. Detectives still don't know how he died, according to ABC Affiliate Local 10 in Miami.
The Canadian Press reports that someone posting as "luka-magnotta" wrote on Lotus car websites in 2010 and said he was living in Miami.
"Why not look into it? Any agency with a similar case, we would look into it," Miami Police Sgt. Confesor Gonzalez told the Miami Herald.
But at first glance, the Miami killing doesn't follow the pattern of Magnotta's alleged crime in Canada, said Gonzalez, the lead investigator on the Laparra case.
"In the Canadian case, it appeared to be domestic, and the killer knew the victim, while in our case, it appears to be random," he told the Herald. "Nonetheless, in the interest of being thorough, we will follow up with Montreal police."
Magnotta is currently in a German jail awaiting extradition to Canada, where police say he allegedly murdered Chinese student Jun Lin around May 24.
Magnotta and victim Jun Lin, 33, were gay lovers, according to Montreal police.
Los Angeles police confirmed Hervey Medellin, 66, the Hollywood sign victim, was openly gay.
Medellin's head was discovered in Bronson Canyon Park on Jan. 17 when a dog found a plastic bag that contained its head. The accompanying dog walker called the police, and investigators discovered severed hands and feet during the course of a two-day search.
Citing privacy concerns, the U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency would not confirm if Magnotta was in the United States at the time.
However, posts on one of several Facebook accounts attributed to Magnotta, and which bears his name, date from February and suggest he was in Los Angeles at the time. In those bulletins, first discovered by the New York Observer, the poster appears to be arranging appointments to offer massages and includes a phone number with an Los Angeles area code.
"Raymond and I are doing massages at his place on La Bra, pick me up at his place after we're done and we'll go out. I NEED A JOINT," reads one post, dated Feb. 19.
In addition to the sexuality of both victims, the crimes appeared to bear some resemblance. In each case the head, hands and feet were severed.
The killers in each case also appear to be seeking some publicity. Medellin's killer placed his head near the Hollywood sign, guaranteeing discovery. Montreal police confirm that Magnotta is the man seen killing, dismembering and eating his victim in a video posted on line.
On May 29, a human foot was found by a receptionist who received a blood-soaked package at the Ottawa headquarters of the Conservative Party of Canada. A second package containing a hand was seized at a post office in Ottawa later in the day. The parts were later confirmed to belong to Lin.
On Tuesday, packages containing another foot and hand, also believed to belong to Lin, were received by two Vancouver elementary schools.
Lin's head is still missing.
Magnotta is expected to be extradited back to Canada before the end of June.