Killer may strike again, psychiatrist says
OTTAWA – The forensic psychiatrist famed for examining sex killer Paul Bernardo says he fears that the person who killed and dismembered a man in Montreal may kill again.
“If it is sexual and he has gone to this extreme, then I think the risk of killing again in a serial way goes higher,” Dr. John Bradford said in an interview. “So that is my worry about this.”
Luka Rocco Magnotta, a 29-year-old self-described porn star and prostitute, is wanted for first-degree murder and for “interfer(ing) with … the human remains (of) an unknown person” in connection with the gruesome discovery of body parts in Montreal and Ottawa this week.
A horrifying and graphic video has surfaced that is believed to show both the killing and aftermath of the death linked to the body-parts case. The video, titled “1 lunatic 1 ice pick,” depicts a person killing a man and then committing gross indignities to his naked body.
It also has been alleged that Magnotta posted a video on the Internet of himself suffocating and dismembering kittens.
Bradford is an expert in understanding what makes men commit unspeakable crimes. He is head of forensic psychiatry at the University of Ottawa and recently retired as associate chief of forensics at the Royal Ottawa Mental Health Centre.
He has looked into the minds of some of the most notorious criminals of our time, from the murderous Kray brothers in Britain, to sadistic sex murderers Joseph Fredericks and Bernardo, whom he examined in 1994 before he stood trial for murdering teenagers Kristen French and Leslie Mahaffy.
Bradford said he is worried that the suspect is a sadist, with a serious personality disorder, who is “possibly a psychopath.”
And after killing once, he may be consumed by an urge to attack again. “People who get to the point of committing sexually motivated homicides have very strong drives to continue.”
And to that end, Bradford said that it’s important to understand whether the killing was sexually motivated.
“The sexual component is assumed, but until we know what relationship there was between him and this man, who is now deceased, it’s speculative. Although there is good evidence to support it (being sexually motivated),” he added.
“Was he in a relationship with this male? We don’t have the answer to that. It sounds as though they knew each other. Was this a sadistic homicide against a gay partner?”
Bradford explained that if a person kills because he or she is “high on drugs or psychotic,” the “drive to kill again is less strong.”
He also said it’s unlikely that the suspect is mentally ill or psychotic. “Most people with (a) serious mental disorder don’t do these types of things.”
He also said the thought processes of the mentally ill are usually too disordered to carry out such a deliberate publicity campaign.