Cops Eye Magnotta in Hollywood Decapitation

He may have been in California when victim was dismembered
By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff
Posted Jun 7, 2012 11:36 PM CDT
Updated Jun 8, 2012 12:27 AM CDT
Cops Eye Magnotta in Hollywood Decapitation
A plastic bag containing a human head was discovered on a hiking trail near the Hollywood sign earlier this year.   (AP Photo/Jason Redmond)

Was Luka Magnotta a serial killer who only filmed his latest murder? Police are probing a possible link between the Canadian murder suspect to an unsolved slaying in his hometown of Montreal—and further afield, including in Hollywood, where a headless body was found near the famous sign earlier this year. Magnotta is known to have spent time on the West Coast, and police are trying to determine whether he was in California during the murder of the Hollywood victim, 66-year-old former flight attendant Hervey Medellin, reports the Toronto Star.

The man Magnotta is currently accused of murdering, dismembering, and mailing to assorted locations in Canada has been identified as his lover—and the LAPD has confirmed that Medellin was gay, notes the Los Angeles Times. Police discovered Medellin's body after his head and severed hands and feet were found in LA's Griffith Park. Facebook posts suggest Magnotta may have been in the area at the time. "It's an open investigation. Our detectives are trying to see if there is a connection," said an LAPD spokesman. Magnotta is currently in Germany, awaiting extradition to Canada. (More Hollywood sign stories.)

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