Berlin police said they had arrested yesterday the internationally wanted murder suspect dubbed the “Canadian Psycho”, a former gay porn star accused of chopping up his lover and filming the attack.
Luka Rocco Magnotta offered little resistance, saying simply: “You got me,” a police spokesman said.
“I can confirm that the person arrested was the wanted Magnotta,” the spokesman said, adding that authorities picked up the 29-year-old in an Internet cafe in Neukoelln, a working-class district of Berlin.
“They had little difficulty overpowering and arresting the suspect, he said. “It went very quickly.”
Mr Magnotta will remain in custody until he can be extradited to Canada, he added. A witness who did not wish to be named said: “The police came. They arrested him and he was very relaxed. An hour later, everything was over.”
Another witness told the online version of Spiegel magazine that Mr Magnotta was reading stories about himself in the cafe.
His “French accent” first aroused suspicions among the employees of the cafe, who then recognised him from media pictures. The arrest in Berlin brought to an end days of cat-and-mouse with French authorities who had been tracking Mr Magnotta in Paris since at least Friday.
French police had launched “targeted searches” for Mr Magnotta after Canadian investigators said he boarded a France-bound plane on May 26 in Montreal.
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 with an ice pick and dismember him while a song from the film “American Psycho” plays in the background. The murder came to light when Canadian police said Tuesday that a human foot had been sent to the headquarters of Canada’s ruling Conservative Party.
A hand was later found in the mail at an Ottawa post office, and a torso was discovered in Montreal. Canadian police believe the remains belong to a man who was dating Magnotta – and that Mr Magnotta is to blame.
In addition to having had plastic surgery on his face – apparently to look more like James Dean – Mr Magnotta often wears lipstick and makeup, has dyed his hair and worn wigs, and sometimes dresses up as a woman.
Described as handsome and narcissistic, Mr Magnotta, who naturally has black hair and blue eyes, has also changed his name and used several aliases. He made a 2009 posting on the Internet offering advice on how to vanish and never be found.
“A minimum of four months is really necessary to carry out the heroic actions necessary to leave your old life behind,” he reportedly wrote.