PARIS: French police said Sunday that they are certain the Canadian gay porn star suspected of filming the dismemberment of his boyfriend and mailing the body parts came recently to Paris.
"Investigators are certain" that Luka 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.
French police have been carrying out "targeted searches" for Magnotta, 29, after Canadian investigators said the suspect boarded a France-bound plane in Montreal on May 26.
They have searched a bar and two hotels in a well-to-do northwestern district of the French capital, the police source said.
A witness told AFP 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 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.
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.
Interpol on Thursday issued a Red Notice wanted-persons alert for Magnotta, also known as Eric Clinton Newman and Vladimir Romanov, to its 190 member countries after a video of the grisly killing surfaced online.
The killing 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 Magnotta is to blame.
The victim, a student identified as Lin Jun, had been "in a relationship" with the porn star, according to Montreal police commander Ian Lafreniere.
Lafreniere said Magnotta wears wigs and sometimes disguises himself as a woman.
"We believe he could be anywhere at this point," Lafreniere added, noting that Magnotta may have returned to Canada under another identity.
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