True Crime All The Time - Luka Magnotta Part1

Episode Date: November 8, 2021

Luka Magnotta is an infamous Canadian killer. He began posting videos in 2010 which showed kittens being killed in despicable ways. These videos prompted amateur detectives all over the world to try to find out who was behind these acts. Then, in 2012, he posted a video of a man being murdered. Later that year, the police publicly identified their suspect in the video murder as Luka Magnotta and a manhunt began.Join Mike and Gibby as they discuss the infamous Luka Magnotta. Luka was obsessed with becoming famous. He tried out for a number of different reality shows. He did some stripping, some modeling, and made some pornographic films. He even created numerous social media profiles to try spread rumors about himself, some linking him romantically to killer Karla Homolka. He was a man who would stop at nothing to gain the notoriety he craved and this included hurting animals and killing on film.You can help support the show at patreon.com/truecrimeallthetimeVisit the show's website at truecrimeallthetime.com for contact, merchandise, and donation informationAn Emash Digital productionSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Hello everyone and welcome to episode 258 of the True Crime All of the Time podcast. I'm Mike Ferguson. And with me as always is my partner in True Crime. Mike Gibson, how are you? Hey, I'm doing good, man. How about you? I'm doing great.

Good. You just got done sitting in a real wooden, slotted chair. Yeah, like the old days. Yeah, as you say, the old days. Yeah. Somebody sent it to us. We'll talk about it in the mailbag. Yeah, we will.

But it's on video. It was an interesting experience. I'll put it that way. Let's just say that my bum did not forget what that felt like. For the short 18, 20 minute video. Yeah. All right. We got a jam-packed case.

Let's go ahead and give our shout-outs. Okay. For Patreon, we had Victoria Murray. Hey, Victoria. Bridget Swainston. What's happening in Swainston? Carolyn Pierce. Hey, Carolyn.

Ronnie Rocks jumped out of our highest level. What's up, Ronnie? Miss Jareling jumped out of our highest level. Well, thank you, Miss Jarreling. We had Spencer, Selbert. Hey, Selbert. Angela Archer.

Hey, Angela. M. Yorton. Well, what up, M. Yorton? Jasmine Wellerman jumped out of the highest level. Look at that. Wellerman in the house. Patrick Ayers.

Hey, Patrick. Marina Vassley. A little Marina. Nard dog. What up, Nard dog. Tammy. Hey, Tammy. Debs, Brocks.

Well, thank you, Debs. Annie jumped out of the highest level. Just good old Annie, hey? Lisa Shapiro. Hey, Lisa. Charlie Emery. What's going on, Emory? And last but not least,

Whitney. Roman. Hey, Whitney. And then if we go back into the Vault Gibbs, this week, we selected Kenneth M. Hey, appreciate that, Kenneth. So yeah, we appreciate the new support, the long-term support. We had great PayPal donations from Vincent Campbell. Hey, Vincent. Aubrey Eldridge. Hi, Aubrey. And Gretchen Fisher. Hey, there's Gretchen. So we appreciate that as well. Right now, we have an episode out on True Crime All the Time Unsolved. We're talking about the 1980 Unsolved. We're talking about the 1980 unsolved murder of Maria James headed down to Australia. Yeah, across the other pond.

The other pond the other way? Yeah. Okay. Is that what you say? I don't know. Did you say just down under? Down under. Yeah.

I think that encapsulates it. Good die, might. But it is a fascinating case. It is. As always, we're diving to what occurred. The details. The details, the investigation. We'll look at the potential suspects.

Yep. And there are a number of persons of interest. in this case. And I think for Unsolved, that always makes it interesting. It does. Because that gives the audience a chance to, you know, kind of look at what is known and say, okay, I think it was this person or I think it was this other person. And we're, we're discussed a little bit about the evidence and how it was handled. Or mishandled. Exactly. So it's a good episode. Make sure you check that out. All right, are you ready to get into this episode of true crime all the time i am ready we are talking about the infamous killer luca magnata you know we're coming up on our five year anniversary later this month

and it got me thinking gibbs about some of the cases that fascinate me the most and i know for a fact that the name luca magnata was one of the first to go on the list when we started this podcast Magnata was a guy who really wanted to be famous. And he went to great lengths to try to make that happen. You know, to me it's also a case where reality television, social media and murder kind of all intersect. It really does. And I also think there's something about the name Luca Magnata that kind of jumps out at you. It does.

Now, obviously, we're going to find out that it's not his real name. that's a name he chose, but it is a very interesting name. Yeah, in the true crime world, when you hear that name, you know. Yeah, it's not like a Fred Jones. Right. You know, it's a name that really kind of stands out. On May 25th, 2012, a video was posted online depicting a man being brutally stabbed to death with an ice pick.

Once the police determined that the video was real, they rushed to identify both the victim and kill. that killer turned out to be a 29-year-old Canadian man named Luca Magnaata, a man with a long history of strange and disturbing behavior. Much of it posted online for thousands and thousands of people to witness. I mentioned it, right? Luca's dream was to be famous and he was willing to do anything to get the attention that he desperately craved. In part one, of the Luca Magnata episodes. We'll discuss Luca's life leading up to May 25th, 2012, the infamous one lunatic, one ice pick video, and the beginning of the international investigation

to locate him. Luca Rocco Magnata was born on July 24th, 1982 in Scarborough, Ontario, a suburban community on the outskirts of Ontario. His birth name was Eric Clinton, Newman. And that is kind of a mouthful. That's a very long name. But he legally changed his name as an adult. His parents were Anna Yorkan and Donald Newman. Luca was the oldest of three children. He lived with his mother and his grandmother Phyllis for most of his childhood. And the following information comes from Donald Newman's testimony at Luca's 2014 trial. According to Donald, Luca was not a normal child. He was isolated. He had very little to no contact with other children. Really, he said none of his children had any friends. Luca's mother insisted on homeschooling them

despite never graduating from high school. Donald was 17 and it was just 16. When she became pregnant and left school, they had their second child at ages 17 and 18. And their third child, before the age of 20. Well, they were very busy. They were busy. Three children before the age of 20. According to CBC news, Donald Newman did not want the children to be homeschooled. But Anna was, in his words, clinging.

And she wanted to have total control over the kids. There's a lot of moms like that or parents like that, really. Sure. Yeah. But I think you're right. There are a large number of months. moms who, you know, whether it's fear-based or based on the fact that they love their kids so much as possible, they want to be around them as much as possible. Okay, how much of that goes into it.

Maybe this is more fear-based. I don't want them to go to school. I don't know what's going to happen when they're outside of my kind of watchful eye. So you know what? I'll homeschool. Yeah, I can protect them here better. The family moved to Toronto from a smaller town. The children attended elementary school for a few years. So I guess, you know, got out of the homeschooling at some point. Luca was bullied in school. The other children beat him up.

Luca's grandmother, Phyllis, tried to get custody of the children. But according to Donald Newman, she mostly wanted Eric. She smothered him. And according to him, Phyllis favored Eric over the other children. You know, grandparents always have their favorite child. They won't admit it, but I think some of them do. I think parents do too, some.

Sure they do. They're never going to admit it or tell their kids that, obviously. Some probably wouldn't even admit it to themselves. But right now there's a grandma sitting listening going, yeah, I have my favorite. Yeah, I agree with you. You know, if a person was really honest with themselves, which a lot of times is really hard to do, then maybe they might say that. I mean, I know your grandma loved your sibling that you never had. Since I was an only child, I was definitely the favorite.

Luca's parents divorced when he was 11. Donald claimed that he developed a drinking problem because of Anna's family. So Donald had a drinking problem. Anna also had a problem with drinking vodka excessively. After the divorce, Donald was diagnosed with schizophrenia and cut off almost all contact with his children. So Luca lived with his mother and grandmother. Luca reportedly hated his mother's new boyfriend and described him as a monster. Gibbs, he basically drifted away from everyone in his family,

except for his sister Melissa and his grandmother. So, I mean, I think you can look at Luca growing up, his teenage years. There was no doubt. He was definitely negatively affected by the divorce. Yeah, there's a lot going on there. From 1998 to 2000, Luca attended I.E. Weldon secondary school in Lindsay, Ontario. We talked about the fact that he was homeschooled for many years. His mom was described as clingy, but also his grandmother told him that the world was a dirty and dangerous place.

Well, it can be, depending on where you go, what you see. Well, sure, it can be. But also it's a beautiful and fun and... Yeah, to me, that's, you know, kind of the whole point, right? If you're constantly being barraged with danger, danger, danger, don't do this, don't do that. that, okay, I get it, be careful. But you can also develop some really kind of strange thoughts about the world. Sure.

And it's like saying, you know, if you go outside, you're going to get hit by a baseball. Could you potentially? Sure. Sure you could. Is it likely? No. No. Should it keep you from going outside and playing with your friends or playing with the dog?

No, you can't let it do that. And you can't let perceived dangers keep you from living your life. Yeah, yeah, absolutely. But can the people that you look up to in your life kind of lay that on you? Oh, yeah. And almost, you know, make you that way. I think the answer is yes. Lucas teachers and classmates remembered him for his preoccupation with his looks.

And that's going to be something that extends into adulthood. We're going to talk about that. But, you know, other than that, most of the people that knew him said he didn't really stand out. Just an average guy? Yeah, he didn't act all that strangely. Luca graduated from high school, but he didn't attend college. In 2003, Luca appeared in two Canadian pornographic films. That's like they just say sorry a lot.

A? A? Do they say a? Hey. Now, you know, we're going to get a lot of hate emails from our Canadian listeners. It's all love. It's all love. He also worked as a stripper and as a male escort.

And he used the pseudonym Jimmy for most of this type of work. I get that, you know? You can't use your real name. Sure. When I used to use Rex West. Exactly. So far, you guys have a lot in common. A little bit.

bit. Because you did spend some time in Canada. I do and did. And yeah. Doing some things that you would never tell me about. I don't know. Maybe someday you'll open up about it. That same year, Luca's father referred him to a psychologist because he was worried about his mental health. Luca was hospitalized for hearing voices. A March 7th, 2003 medical record states, the father has been made aware that his son, has been admitted to the 10th floor and has been hearing voices. He's worried about his son. Luca was prescribed medication for the rest of his life. I mean,

I think for any parent, that would definitely be a concern. If your child came to you and admitted that they were hearing voices, yeah, no, there's no doubt. And this was almost 20 years ago. I think today,

the concern is even greater, right? We know more about mental health issues. I think parents take mental health much more seriously than they did even 20 years ago. But especially, you know, think back when you and I were in our team. Right. It was very rarely talked about. If at all.

And as I know, I've told you more than once, you know, the, the pandemic, everything that went along with it. The school's being shut down. people being kind of sequestered in their houses, especially kids, it really worries me, you know, about some of these kids and their mental health. Yeah, I think you're right. We're going to potentially see some issues in the future. Yeah. No, I do think that this pandemic is going to have far-reaching effects beyond what we've

already experienced. In 2004, the Toronto police investigated Luca because he befriended a 21-year-old woman with an intellectual disability. He convinced this woman to apply for credit cards and he ended up putting her in about $10,000 worth of death. So he manipulated her. Oh, absolutely. The police also alleged that he sexually assaulted her and recorded it. That part is important. It is. Because that's foreshadowing, right? Not to give it away, but video plays a major part in this case. Most people probably already know it. In June 2005, Luca pleaded guilty to one count of impersonation and three counts of fraud. The crown chose to drop these sexual assault charges before trial. Peter Scully, Luca's defense attorney,

showed the court a medical report, citing significant psychiatric issues as a mitigating factor for sentencing. Luke pleaded guilty to the charges and he received a nine-month conditional sentence plus 12 months probation. All right, I think if we look at that, Gibbs, that's not a lot. Pretty light sentence. Depending on, you know, what he was actually convicted of, but when, you know, you're strictly talking about a sexual assault and recording it on video. Okay. If that was part of the conviction, I would expect to see more. Right.

You know, to me, that is an extremely significant offense. It's nothing to take lightly. No, but what kind of message does that send to everybody involved? Yeah, you're right. It's not a good one. Peter Scully later told CBC, the decision changed the course of Newman's life immeasurably, with huge ramifications to our society eventually. At the sentencing hearing, the judge told Luca, you have a medical problem and you need to always take medication.

If you do not, your life is going to get messed up. So as part of his probation, Luca was required to attend a treatment program. and take all of his prescribed medications. But I go back to his attorney's statement, right? This decision, he's almost kind of echoing what we were saying or the path that we were going down. I take this to mean this light sentence had huge ramifications later on, which we know that it does. And it makes you think, you know, when you hear about the judge saying, make sure you take your medication. how many other offenses have happened over time because the individual didn't take their medication?

Oh, I'm sure the number is very large of people that have been prescribed things that are designed to help them deal with X. Whatever X is, they choose not to take them. Right. And end up, you know, spiraling downward and ultimately, you know, doing something that maybe they wouldn't do if they would have taken the medication. Yeah. So Lucas served this pretty short sentence. And after that, he continued acting in pornographic films.

He appeared in an issue of Toronto's Fab magazine using the pseudonym Jimmy. In the magazine, he described himself as a 22-year-old man born in Russia. So here's the start, kind of the attempt to, create a different life, a different persona. So he's starting to live in a fantasy world. Yeah. No, I think from this point forward, and maybe even some before, I think in large part,

Luca did live in kind of his own little fantasy world. But at the same time, he was trying to create it as well, right? Create a fantasy world in which he could live. In 2006, Luca met Barbie, a transgender woman. They began a romantic relationship. Barbie later told the fifth estate that Luca always talked about how he wanted to become famous. He had a shrine.

Gibbs dedicated to himself in his house. And he was always asking Barbie to take pictures of him. She didn't like this behavior. and she ended the relationship in April 2006. Luca dated another woman named Nina Erizno on and off for several years. She didn't have great things to say about him later on. She described him as manipulative, a liar, and self-destructive. I don't think she was wrong because we're going to see, you know, as we move forward,

kind of all these traits come out. Yeah. in Luca Magnata. You know, I've been calling him Luca this whole time, but it really wasn't until August 12, 2006, that Luca legally changed his name. He had been calling himself Luca for a number of years up to that point. Melissa Newman, Luca's sister,

told CBC that her brother's personality really changed in 2006. She said he was dazed. He shifted topics rapidly. and he just kind of had a blank look. What he was saying was not making sense. She said, I thought he was possessed. He wasn't Eric. Well, this is his sister saying.

That's the person that would know him fairly well. And probably the best when you go back to us talking about it really was his sister that he was probably the closest with out of all the members of his family. So my assumption is she. probably knew him better than anyone. Yeah. She can't even recognize who this person is at this point. No, because he's changing. He's changing so much. And I think the changes occurred fairly rapidly. All right, Gibbs, let's take a minute to talk about Anna Louisa. This is by far one of my family's

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Anna Louisa's beautiful, sustainable jewelry. Their pieces start at just $39. And they're currently running their biggest sale of the year. Head to shop.ana luisa.com slash teacat and you can get 20% off. That's shop.a.a.a-l-u-i-sa.com slash teacat for 20% off. In March 2007, Luka Magnata filed for bankruptcy. His reason for filing was illness, lack of employment, and insufficient income to pay off debts. I guess he owed about $17,000 in debts. He also claimed that he had to pay about $200 a month in medical expenses for what was listed as an unspecified condition. His bankruptcy was discharged in December 2007. You know what we're not talking about. We're not talking about are a bunch of different jobs that he held. I don't know that he did. We mentioned him

being in some pornographic films. You know, I think he did some other things along that, those lines to make money. He definitely wasn't, you know, working a nine to five. No. He wasn't working at Burger King or, you know, some type of Walmart or, you know, something like that. And obviously he was spending well above his means, as many people do. To rack up $17,000 in debts, that meant he was spending money he didn't have. Yeah, more than what he was making. In the summer of 2007, rumors spread online that Luca was in a relationship with Carla Hamulka. We covered Carla's case.

She and her first husband, Paul Bernardo, raped and murdered. three minors between 1990 and 1992. She was convicted of manslaughter after a plea bargain and only served 12 years in prison. Extremely light sentence. So she got out. People were outraged, right? We talked about that in the episode. And now there's rumors that she's dating a guy named Luca Magnano.

Now, Carla is infamous. when you look at the history of Canadian crime. Right. Carla Hamolka and Paul Bernardo are right up there. They're always going to be included in that list. So the rumors are flying. Luca denied everything in an interview with the Toronto Sun that was published on September 14th, 2007.

Now, he claimed the rumor started because the Toronto police announced that the two had dated when they were in. investigating Hamulka, but they later retracted their statement because they had no evidence to prove it. According to Luca, many people had created accounts to post false rumors about him on social media sites and discussion forums. He dismissed the rumors as hoaxes and, you know, kind of like cyber-stalking campaigns against him. But the Toronto police believe that he created many of these rumors himself. Well, I can see him probably doing something like that.

Yeah, police later learned that he created about 70 Facebook profiles and he had 20 websites under different names. He also created a tribute to Carla Hamulka on a Luca Magnata YouTube account. All of the videos uploaded and favoreded by the account were related to himself and Carla Hamulka. So I think when you. look at everything in, you know, its entirety, you can see pretty easily why the Toronto police would come to the conclusion that they did. First of all, Gibbs, who in the hell is

Luca Magnata? He's not a celebrity. No. So why would a whole bunch of people on Facebook and other social media outlets be, you know, creating hoaxes, putting him together, with Carla Hamolka. Nobody knows who this guy is. No, nobody cares. And nobody cares. But what happens when a person creates their own hoaxes about themselves, linking them with a famous or in this case infamous person, what happens, Gibbs?

Well, they're going to make themselves somewhat famous. Yeah. They're going to derive attention, fame, just. based off the fact that there is this connection. That's not real, but we know how social media works. A lot of stuff's not real. But this is what he wanted.

Right? He wanted the fame. He wanted the attention. This was just one way to try to get it. Yeah, it's definitely going to get him attention. So Gibbs, there is a ton of audio of Luca out there.

You can find it on the internet. And I'm sure we'll play more of it in episode two. But I did want to get in at least one clip in this episode so that people can hear Luca. So here's an interview that Luca did in 2007 with the Toronto Sun, kind of talking about the Carla Hamulka situation. My mom career is kind of these days, to be honest with you. And it's all because of the small rumor of you dating Carl Hamaka. This is the thing that's... The rumor's destroyed my life, basically,

and I've been receiving death threats. My address is posted. That's why I had to move. I want my Pomeranian bag. I was taking out of my SUV. I'm about to have a nervous breakdown here. My reputation is completely ruined. I just wanted everybody to set...

I want to set the record straight that me and her have absolutely no connection. I go into see casting directors. I go in to see agents. You know, they know who I am. You know, it's all over everywhere. Start up being a stripper. And then basically I went from there to doing adult villains. And I'm not ashamed to do it with the adult films.

I have a problem though with people saying those to relatives. And now nobody wants to talk to me. I don't have anybody basically. Whoever's doing this, you know, please stop. You know, you're doing a lot of harm. So, you know, I thought that clip was appropriate. Number one, he's talking about the Carla Hamoka link. And he's saying there is none.

but he's going into, I'm a model. I can't get any more modeling gigs. People know who I am now. They're looking at me in a negative light. This has ruined my career. Yeah, it's ruined my career. Did he really have one? No, I don't think he did.

But it's, you know, kind of the woe is me. All of these bad things are happening because of what all these people are saying online about me. And when it turns out, he did all of that himself. In 2007, Luca unsuccessfully competed in OutTV's cover guy reality series. In February 2008, he auditioned for the Slice Network show Plastic Makes Perfect. So he was trying out for all of these reality television shows, right? Another way to maybe get some fame. Yeah.

And you can go out. there are some audio and video of him auditioning and things like that. How did I work out for him? Not well. Not well. I mean, I know with the plastic surgery one, you know, he's talking about what he, you know, he wanted to have done. The cover guy won.

I think he was shirtless. And they just kind of said that, you know, he needed more mass. And he said, I can do that. It was like, whatever you need me to do, I'll do. just let me on the show, but, you know, all these attempts at having a career in reality television failed. You get think back then, reality television was probably at its height, if not height, it was, it was really big. It was approaching the height. Yeah. If it wasn't at the, at the top, it was, it was getting there. I think there were a lot of people who were trying to,

you know, go that route because it had worked for some. You think about some of the first people that were on Survivor. Oh, sure. Yeah. Turned out to be vehicles for movies, television careers, things like that. And I'm sure some on other shows it did as well. Definitely propelled their careers for it. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. In 2008, Luca made more fake accounts to post rumors about himself online. And then he would make profiles to deny the rumors that he had already posted. Hey, he's working that both. Yeah. Working overtime, man, this social media, he created an official website about himself with photos and he had blog style rants about propaganda, problems with the judicial system, and cyber stalking. He wrote an article titled How to Disappear Completely and Never Be

Found. So in this article, it provided six steps to escape town and erase your identity. He tried to fight Wikipedia a number of times. He kept trying to set up his own Wikipedia page. They kept taking it down. He posted an online escort ad under the name Jimmy. According to CBC News, one of his clients posted a negative review, describing him as cold and remote. Well, it's probably not the way you want to be described if you're in the escort arena.

No, and who would know better than you? Luca is also believed to have created a blog called Necrophiliac serial killer Luca Magnada. The website had photos of him and thoughts on necrophilia. The website owner wrote, It's not cool to the world being a necrophiliac. It's bloody lonely. But I don't really care.

I have never cared about what people thought of me. Most people are judgmental idiots. Okay. Can you make the argument that, too many people are judgmental, yes, I think you can make that argument. Sure. But if you're Luca Magnata, can you honestly say that I don't care what people think of me? Gibbs, I don't think he can because I think more than anything, this is a guy who cares

what people think about him. In a large way. Yeah. It's probably what he thinks about the most. In October 2009, Luca met a 70-year-old man online. the two became travel companions. This man who called himself Henry spoke to CBC under a fake name to protect his privacy. He paid for trips to Russia, Italy and France.

He said that Luca walked as if he was on a stage or as if he was on a ramp for modeling clothes. Henry admitted that he was interested in Luca romantically, but said Luca refused to be intimate with him and basically just used him for his money. Look, I have no doubt because Luca wanted to be that persona, that person, that famous person. He probably was walking around like he was something. Sure. You know, chest puffed out. I'm picturing like, you know, cock of the walk, chest pumped out. They still use that saying cock of the walk. You do. Is that still appropriate? I'm sure he was strut his stuff. Yeah, exactly. In fall 2010, Luca made a Facebook post linking to a video titled Three Guys One Hammer.

And Gibbs, a lot of people will probably be familiar with this video. It's absolutely gruesome. The video shows a man being beaten to death. And people who saw this post were extremely disturbed. Rightfully so, it was disturbing. more rumors spread online about his relationship with Carla Hamulka. According to CBC, one user wrote, Luca is unable to live unless there is chaos in his life.

It makes him feel as though he matters. And there are many people that believe Luca posted this himself. I can get that. I understand. I think a lot of people believe that almost every post about him was actually from him. from one of these 70 accounts or so that he had made up. Yeah, I think he was his biggest fan. Because if that wasn't the case, who was posting about Luca Magnata?

Again, he's not a known commodity other than, okay, did some people know his name based on the false rumors that he was linked with Carla, maybe. Then on December 21st of 2010, Luca uploaded a video title. one boy, two kittens to YouTube. He wasn't identified as the original poster of the video until months later. This also is a very graphic, gruesome video. It depicts an unknown person, putting kittens inside a sealed bag, and then sucking the air out of the bag with a vacuum cleaner. Now, YouTube removed the video within a day, but animal rights activists. found out about it, they search to identify and help prosecute the perpetrator.

Such a sick video. It is. It's absolutely nasty. And this is where, you know, a lot of people will probably have seen the documentary, don't F with cats. You know, that really goes into it, right? These people online almost becoming obsessed with trying to find this monster that was able to do this to, you know, these poor defenseless kittens,

Brian Boyle, a former member of the U.S. military, created a Facebook page called Find the Vacuum Kitten Killer for Great Justice. 4,000 people signed up. Their mission was to catch this perpetrator of the animal abuse. On December 28, 2010, Rescue Inc. posted a $5,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of the kitten killer, Joe Pan's a founding member told the fifth estate. It's a gateway crime, animal abuse. Once somebody starts to open that door, that's when things start to get really dangerous.

Well, he's correct, isn't he? He is. He turns out to be correct. This is also something that we've seen time and time again. Now, we normally see it in the childhoods of killers. right cruelty to animals they're mean to animals they do a lot of bad things to animals and it's almost viewed as like the beginning stages yeah of a budding serial killer so i think what joe was saying is you know this is horrible by itself but it's also something that's going to open the

door to this unknown person hurting humans as well and like you said he took turned out to be correct. Yeah, he did. On January 4th, 2011, Luca contacted New York lawyer Romeo Salta. He expressed alarm about the kitten video, and he asked if there were any warrants out for his arrest. Now, there weren't any at the time, but doesn't that seem strange that you would reach out to an attorney and say, you know what, I'm really concerned about these kitten videos. Oh, and by the way, are there any warrants out for my arrest at this time? Well, why are you asking? Exactly.

Another group called the Animal Beta Project emerged with the goal of stopping Luca before he killed again. Now, they didn't know it was Luca yet, but one of the photos posted by the kitten killer showed a man with a blurred face holding the two kittens while they were still a lot. The Animal Beta Project found the exact photo without the blurred face. And it was at that point that they were able to confirm that Luca Magnata was the kid and killer. They analyzed the video frame by frame and claimed that the furnishings and clothing in the video matched other images that Luca had posted online. The AB project found a wealth of information about Luca online because obviously he had posted

a lot, but they couldn't get his location. So they knew who he was. They knew it was him, but they couldn't find him. So they worked with data experts to find a solution. What they did was they used exchangeable image file data from pictures of Luca posted online. The data told them where and when the pictures were taken. And Gibbs, I don't know if that's something that is universally known. I this thing is a really cool technology. Oh, it is a very cool technology, but I don't know if nowadays, and maybe nowadays they do, but this was what, 10 years ago? Yeah.

I don't know if people knew that certain cameras, certain cell phones, things like that, you know, the pictures that are taken, they kind of generate like a, both a timestamp and a location. And, you know, if you're able to get into the. digital photo and break it down, I guess you can retrieve that data. Which were law enforcement is an amazing thing. Yeah. They discovered that one photo from October 2010 revealed that Luca was in Toronto. So they contacted the OSPCA with their findings.

In February 2011, the Toronto police investigated Luca in connection with the videos after receiving a complaint from the Ontario Society for the prevention of cruelty to animals. The OSPCA also contacted the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals in England. They contacted the FBI and the Montreal police because they knew that Luca traveled frequently. So we've got all type of agencies involved here. The more the merrier, right? When you're trying to track down an evil. SOB, let's get everybody involved. On June 8th, 2011, the LAPD announced that they were in contact with

the Montreal police to determine if Magnata was involved in an unsolved murder and decapitation. The case was known as the Hollywood Sign murder. Now, the LAPD later announced that they didn't believe Luca was involved in the crime. Animal Rights Group, last chance for animals, claimed responsibility for posting a YouTube video linking Magnata to the Hollywood Sign Murder. And they did so Gibbs because they wanted to lure him into contacting them. They even offered a $7,500 reward for information leading to Luca's arrest. In November 2011, the kitten killer posted another video that was titled Python Christmas. The video showed an unknown man and a Santa hat

feeding a kitten to a Burmese python. A few days later, the kitten killer posted another video. This one of him drowning a kitten in a bathtub by taping it to a broom handle and holding it underwater. Sick guy, man. Well, so, you know, the descriptions are sickening, but the videos are even worse. Right. You know, we're trying to be delicate here because we're talking.

talking about cruelty to animals. These are tough subjects. They're tough to get through. But for people that have seen these videos, they're even worse than the descriptions. Alex West, a journalist for the son, met Luca Magnana while he was living in London in 2011. He asked about claims that Luca had created the Python Christmas video. Luca denied the allegations. But Alex West described his behavior as highly suspicious. The son contacted Scotland Yard, but they said that the issue was outside of their jurisdiction. Their intelligence determined that the video was made in North America. On December 8th, 2011, the son published the story about the kitten killer.

On the 10th, their office received a threatening email that they believed was from Luca Magnata. It read, next time you hear from me, it will be in a movie I am producing that will have some humans in it, not just pussies. Once you kill and taste blood, it's impossible to stop. And it was signed British killer. Okay. So there's a couple things here. Number one, he's traveling all over the place, right?

Canada, England. And then I think the second thing is, you know, obviously he's monitored. the web, social media for anything about himself. He's probably getting his jollies. Oh, he's definitely getting his jollies. Off of all the comments, even the negative ones, which most of them would have been negative about how nasty this was and what a bad guy this is. But it's still what, Gibbs?

It's attention. Yeah. And that's what he is craving. Now, you would think that you would want only good attention, but that's not the case for everyone. Yeah, sometimes just attention, good or bad, works. Or publicity, good or bad. Right. The old saying, right?

Which is what? Any publicity is good publicity. Okay. I really 100% thought that you were not going to know it. Impressed, eh? Yeah, I am impressed, eh? I thought you were going to know that there was a saying, but not be able to tell me what it was. Some days I'm just a little bit sharper than that one tool in the shed.

Some days you're sharper than others. That's for sure. In early 2012, the AB project received a tip that Luca had moved to Montreal. So they began searching for any photos that may connect him to that location. They used Google Street View to analyze one of his pictures and found his exact neighborhood. According to CBC News, four days after they found the identifying photo, the group received an email and it read, the name of the kitten vacuum killer you're looking for is Luca Magnata. He was born in Russia, lives in Los Angeles, and has lived in several different countries. The apartment in the video is located in West Hollywood. Hope this helps.

I'm 100% serious. Well, just to step back a little bit, how amazing is it that the technology that they were able to use what identified the exact neighborhood? Yeah. You know, again, I'll go back to the documentary. It really dives heavily into kind of the investigative part of all these different individuals, many of them just amateur detectives, right? Around the world, banding together to do all this work. to try to find him. But it is amazing.

And we're talking about almost 10 years ago, right? Gibbs, it was around this time that Luca began posting more about necrophilia and sedatives on May 15th and 16th, 2012. Various accounts made repeated references to a video titled one lunatic, one ice pick. The video had not yet been released, but one promotion image showed a man in a purple hoodie holding an ice pick. On May 24th, Luca Magnata went silent on the internet after a series of frantic postings. The last thing he posted was a cryptic message about being a psychopath killer. And it was just the very next day that an 11 minute video titled one lunatic one ice pick

was uploaded to best gore.com, a Canadian shock website. The video depicted a naked male tied to a bed frame, being repeatedly stabbed with an ice pick and a kitchen knife. The video showed the assailant dismembering the man and committing acts of necrophilia and cannibalism. The assailant used a knife and fork to cut off some of the man's flesh and he fed parts of the body to a dog. Okay, that'll shake you to your core. Now, if you've seen it, and I have, I watched it many, many years ago, it is something that you will never forget. And the worst part about it, Gibbs, because I remember, you know, when this was all kind of coming out, was that a lot of kids saw it. And at first, didn't know if it was real.

Right. Eventually, they figured out that it was and they were horrified and probably. scarred. I'm nauseated, just thinking about it right now. Oh, the description is bad enough, just like it, it was with the animal killings. But this one, the video, it is absolutely mortified. During the video, the 1987 New Order song True Faith played in the background. There was a poster for the 1942 film Casablanca that was visible on the wall. Canadian authorities retrieved a more extensive version of the video and later confirmed that the acts of cannibalism shown in the video may have been fake. On May 26th, Roger Renville, an attorney from

Montana, attempted to report the video to the Toronto police, his local sheriff, and the FBI. His report was apparently dismissed. And this guy was very frustrated, Gibbs, with how the Toronto police handled his call. He told various outlets that I kept insisting. And he told me that my story didn't make sense. Why would a killer film himself and then put it on the internet? There were a number of best score viewers who also tried to report the video. Mark Merrick, the site owner, said his site users identified Luca Magnata as the killer before the police did. Shouldn't happen that way, should it?

I really shouldn't if police take things seriously. I get it. When you first hear about it, okay, you would ask the question. Well, what killer would film themselves murdering someone and then put it on the internet? Luca Magnata, that's who. And police didn't really confirm that the video was real until May 30th when they watched it for the first time. Five days later. Five days later, they were forced to acknowledge the reports when more disturbing events occurred.

Human body parts were mailed to several locations around Canada in the following days. Definitely disturbing, especially if you're in the receivership of that. Yeah, at 11 a.m. on May 29th, a package containing a left foot was delivered to the national headquarters of the Conservative Party of Canada. the package was stained with blood, it had a very foul smell, and it was marked with a red heart. The package came with a note stating that six body parts had been distributed and that the perpetrator would strike again. Okay. We've talked about a number of times, Gibbs, but you were a UPS driver. Oh, was.

Back in your younger, stronger, more athletic days. Okay, the more improved, Gibby? I don't know. You're pretty good now. I guess what I don't understand is if you go into the back of your truck and you pull out a package that is stained with blood, it smells like death. Are you still required to deliver it as per the brown short credo? Or do you not make a phone call to maybe a superior and say, I got something bad here, Chief.

You just want to get your route done. And go home and do whatever it is you got to do. It just kind of jumped out at me. And I'm not saying this was, you know, the Brown Short Gang, but, you know, whoever was delivering this package. Right. What was that person thinking is they're walking it, you know, inside the building or however it went down?

Yeah, I'm sure. I mean, there was definitely times that we would deliver some weird, questionable stuff. Mm-hmm. I get it. But you just kept on moving, delivered it. Things that you had ordered and you were actually delivering it to your own house? Well, those two, yeah.

Depending what the type of weekend was coming up. Yeah. A package containing a left hand was intercepted at a Canada Post processing facility. Canada Post employees smelled a rotten stench coming from the package. When they opened it, they found the decomposing hand. The package was addressed to the Liberal Party national headquarters. Both of these packages were sent from a fake Montreal address. Okay.

So this kind of answers my question. So these two deliveries were handled much differently. Right. This other group at Canada Post said, Hey, something's wrong here. We need to open this package. Again,

I don't know what the laws are. Right. On that of opening a package, but, you know, the smell of death of rotten flesh is kind of unmistakable. Something's not right here. We better pull this package to the side.

Mm-hmm. Maybe x-ray it. There you go. I don't know if they had that capability, but call the authorities who can get it done. Well, back in the day, we had packages that kind of tore open just a little bit. And so then we'd have to completely open them,

repackage them and get them out the door. But you never found like a body part, I'm assuming. animal parts. So the Ottawa police were still investigating the footcase when they received reports of a human torso that was found at an apartment in Griffin Town, Montreal. At 10.15 a.m., a janer discovered a decomposing torso inside a suitcase. The suitcase was dumped in a garbage pile in an alley behind an apartment building. The Jander told police he saw the suitcase on May 25th, but didn't pick it up until residents began reporting a rotting meat smell coming from the alley.

And I guess Gibbs maggots were crawling all over the suitcase. This janitor named Mike Nadeau told the police, as soon as we opened it, we just saw the body with no head and said, we're out of here. Call the cops. I'd be right there with them. I think I would do the exact same thing. The police found the human torso, bloody clothes, and papers identifying their suspect. Surveillance footage inside the building showed a man bringing garbage bags outside.

The footage matched video of a suspect captured at the post office. They identified their suspect as Luca Magnata. All right. Seems to me at this point everybody knows we should be looking for Luca Magnata. At 1133 a.m., police searched apartment 208, rented by Luca Magnata. Eric Shore, the building manager, told the police Luca moved in in January 2012, and he had paid rent through June 1st. There were never any complaints about him, and he passed a credit test to rent the apartment.

Luca's neighbors didn't really know who he was, but they told authorities they had not seen him in a while. Lucas family also didn't know where he was. When they got into the apartment, it was mostly empty. But the police found blood on the mattress, the fridge, a table, and the bathtub. They found a message written on the closet in red ink. If you don't like the reflection, don't look in the mirror. I don't care. I don't think I've ever seen that written on a fortune cookie.

No, I don't think I have either. Well, the police know they have a big problem. here now. I mean, blood is everywhere. Yeah, on pretty much every surface within the apartment, the foot, hand, and torso were not the final packages. On June 5th, a package containing a right foot was delivered to St. George's School in Montreal. A package containing a right hand was mailed to Falls Creek Elementary School in Vancouver. But it wasn't until May 30th that police, visually confirmed their victim, and they discovered that Luca Magnata had murdered 33-year-old Lynn June on May 24th by stabbing him with an ice pick and kitchen knife.

The police didn't genetically confirm the remains until June 13th. After family members submitted DNA samples, Lynn June's head was found on July 1st at the edge of a small lake in a Montreal Park after the police received an anonymous tip. His body was cremated on July 11th, and his ashes were buried on July 26th at a cemetery in Montreal. So it's a little strange on who he picked to send these packages to. What do you think he's trying to do with that? Yeah, I found it strange as well, right?

A couple of political party headquarters, but then he was sending it to different schools. And, you know, it did kind of jump out at me. Is it just the shock factor, right? Are you going to get more publicity? And is that what he was striving for, right? The news is going to hit that these packages were delivered to political party headquarters and it's going to hit that they were delivered to school. Lynn June was born December 30th, 1978.

Some people knew him as Justin Lynn. He was an international student from a rural area near Wuhan, China. Well, and obviously Wuhan has been in the news quite a bit over the last couple of years. Yeah, yeah, absolutely it has. So Lynn had always dreamed of studying abroad. His family was extremely proud of him for attending college. He was earning his undergraduate degree in engineering and computer science at Concordia University. He'd been in Montreal since July 2011.

He wanted to support his parents and little sister after he graduated and got a job. Now, his mother worried about him being so far away from home, so he texted her, updates frequently, and always told her, don't worry, I'm safe, it's safe here. There's nothing to worry about. He moved into an apartment in Griffin Town with a roommate on May 1, 2000. And Gibbs from everything you read, Lynn June loved his life in Montreal. You know, his text messages to his mother always talked about how happy he was. The last photo he sent was of a park in his neighborhood.

He was last seen on May 24th, 2012. His friends reported receiving a text from him at 9 p.m. that day. Lynn June worked part-time as a convenience store clerk in Portland. St. Charles. His boss got worried when he didn't show up for work on May 25th. Three of his friends went to his apartment on the 27th. He wasn't there. And his roommate hadn't heard from him since the 24th. So they reached out. They contacted his mother to see if she had heard from him. She had. And she told his friends that she had a bad feeling. So his friends officially reported him missing. on May 29. On May 30th, 2012, the police publicly identified their suspect as Luca Magnata,

and they announced that he had fled the country. On the 31st, Interpol joined the search, and they posted his information among a group of nine international suspects. The Montreal police issued a worldwide warrant for first-degree murder. So he's on the run. Yeah, he's on the run. I think at this point, Gibbs, he ran because he knew that he was going to be identified or had already been identified. Yeah. I don't know how he thought he was not going to be identified. And maybe he didn't think that.

Maybe he knew he was and he just didn't care. But I think this is a good place to kind of stop episode one. It's been rough already so far. but we've got a lot more in store for episode two. You know, we'll talk about the international manhunt, Luca's arrest and his sensational murder trial, where,

you know, really the full extent of the brutal murder was revealed to the public for the first time. And, you know, I think it was shocking. You've heard me say it before. I think for the most part, many of us are a little desensitized to murder.

I mean, we know it's bad. We don't condone it. But I don't know how many of us are shocked to see on the nightly news that someone was killed. It's an everyday thing. Yeah, I just think the shock value isn't what it used to be. Yeah. I mean, you know, go back to the 40s, 50s, obviously, probably not the 40s, but the 50s into the maybe the early 60s, I think a lot of people would have been shocked.

when they saw that someone was murdered in their neighborhood. You know, you get into the 70s, 80s, you start to see a lot of serial killers. Sure. The nightly news is reporting about all of these murders. And just over time, I do believe we've become somewhat desensitized. But when you hear the details of this, and like I said, if you see the video, you can throw all that out the window. Yeah, it's definitely going to scar you. There is, there is no doubt.

This is much different than, you know, back in the day, Walter Kronkite or someone like Dan Rather coming on and saying, you know, this murder occurred here, here's what happened. All murders are tragic. This one is just so unbelievably brutal. Right. So sickening. And like I said, we have so much left for episode two. so make sure you check that out next week.

We've got some voicemails, Gibbs. You want to check that out? Yes, hear those. Hey, guys. This is Maria from Norway. I just wanted to pop by your voicemail to tell you that I love your podcast. It's hands down my favorite true crime podcast. And I listen to it whenever I get the chance.

I work at a comic book store, so I don't get to do it while working. But on my breaks, I always whip out the AirPods for some mic and Gibby goodness. Also wanted to mention that I was excited to hear that Gibby used to keep a aquariums as I have a few myself. Thanks for keeping me entertained during all the water changes I have to do each week. You're both amazing. Keep up the good work. And of course, stay safe and keep your own time taking. Bye. And that audio is super clear. Well, it's because she recorded it herself. Okay. So it always is better than calling into our line and then me recording it off of that. I gotcha. It does come through much clearer to record it. If you have a, you know, a halfway

decent mic. But you're right. It is clear. What really just always gets me is just how good the English is, the accent. Or how well? Or how well, how well the, maybe. I don't know. You and I differ on English. Propa. English. Propa. But no, it just, again, I know I've said it, but I think a lot of people in other countries. They're just, they're light years ahead of us when it comes to speaking multiple languages and how well they speak more than one language. I'm jealous, man. I know. But we appreciate the kind words very much. We do. Hey, Mike and Gibby. This is Jason from Virginia. I've been listening to your podcast for a couple months. I think it's great. I'm able to captivate my mind. A lot of my work, I just got out of restaurant business or less restaurant business a couple months ago. I had to be home

with my wife and five kids. It's been great, but all day while I work from home, I just listen to your podcast all day, and I really enjoy it. The only one that was hard for me so far, I'm on episode 180-something, I'm working backwards, but I was Arthur, Gary Bishop, I couldn't listen to all of that.

I got played about a little over halfway through, but I just couldn't bear thinking of what he was doing as his kids. So I had to turn that one off and just skip over to go to the next one. But thanks for doing what you're doing greatly enjoy it. Keep your own time ticket. Yeah. Appreciate the kudos. Obviously, for many people, some of the episodes where kids are harmed, those are some of the toughest. Yeah. It's always tough for me to do those.

Hi, guys. My name is Kat, and I live in a small town in central Washington, and I have a solved crime that I think the listeners out there might find interesting. In 1987, a gal named Mardo McKee was murdered, and she was like six or seven months pregnant, if I remember correctly. And it was supposedly a Satan killing, and her own husband was involved in the killing, in the murder. It was kind of interesting here in town because it turned out that about 10 years after the sentencing that was overturned, and then the dude who was the ringleader ended up on the streets and then he was murdered. It's pretty interesting. So you might want to check that out.

Again, it happened in 1987. The gal's name was Mardo McKee, although Margo was spelled with an E, M-A-R-G-O. Interesting. Yeah, and Moses Lake Washington. Thank you. Keep your own time taken. All right. Great suggestion.

We will definitely put it down on the list. Thank you. Hey, Mike and Givie. This is Kendra Bradford calling. I'm one of your Patreon subscribers. Love you guys. I just wanted to say I was listening to your most recent one and you're talking about personality disorders and how there is no sort of therapy or cure for them. Some of that is true. However, for borderline personality disorder, which I have, there is a therapy called DB, which can actually put borderline personality disorder in sort of a remission or recovery state. You still always have it, but it's kind of like having an underlying condition as opposed to having something that controls you.

So I just thought that might be some fun information. I'm not really either team. I love you both. And thank you. Keep up the good work and keep your own side of ticket. All right. That is good information. I have heard of that DBT, but I wasn't exactly sure what it was.

Yeah, now we know. Now we know. The thing is, will we remember? Because we do learn a lot of stuff. It's the retention. Retention, that's a great word. Kudos to you. That's the issue.

Retaining the information so that we can then later use it when we need it. Do you ever realize or notice that as the episode goes along, I get smarter? I have not realized that. The question is, has the audience realized that? Maybe they have. So thank you, though, and thank you for being a Patreon supporter. Speaking of Patreon, Gibbs, we had a bunch of mailbag, but Kyle Pruitt sent in an actual wooden, slotted chair that I made you sit in for our Patreon video this week.

Resumbled the one that you used to make me sit in all those years for a while. The only difference is this was real. and that other one was imaginary. Megan Kasky sent us in some genuine playing cards from prison. Yeah. The real deal. The real deal. We talked about it in an episode.

You know, these happened to be, I think from either Iowa or Idaho. Now I forget, I don't have them right in front of me. But we talked about prison cards with cold cases on them. Yeah. And she sent us some actual cards.

Appreciate that. Pamela. Mattson sent us some coasters and buttons from the Halloween capital of the world. Anoka Minnesota. Wow. That was a bad one. You do it. You're better.

It's Anoka Minnesota. That's better. Yeah. I don't know what mine was. I've been spending some time in Canada, so I kind of pick up a little bit of that. I got you. I got you. Mine was horrible.

I'm always giving you a hard time for your accents. Mine was one of the worst ever. Just got to remember Fargo. Just thinks of some of your best. Fargo scenes. And I do love, I do love that show. Charlie sent us in four different kinds of fry sauce. So we're pretty well set. Yeah. On fry sauce for a while, I think. Plenty of fry sauce to go. We just need some fries now. We need some fries. And we can get some from where? The fry store. No. Not Oneida, New York, but where? Yeah, the Oneida, Idaho. Just Idaho. Just Idaho.

Oh, right. Oh, right. That's the company that makes franchise or whatever. All right. I said I get smarter. Yeah. That just ruined that whole thing. Well, I think we should end it on that.

So obviously, this is it for part one of our coverage on Luca Magnata. We'll be back with everyone next Sunday with the part two. And I believe what will be the final part. But that's it for another episode. of true crime all the time. So for Mike and Gibby, stay safe and keep your own time ticking.