My Son, The Killer: Magnotta’s mother pens book

Luka Magnotta’s mother doesn’t feel the need to forgive her son for murdering and dismembering an international student in 2012 — he has her unconditional love.

“It wasn’t a question of forgiveness at all,” said Anna Yourkin, who lives in the Peterborough area.

It’s been six years since Magnotta killed Lin Jun, a Chinese student studying in Montreal.

He recorded the murder and mutilation, posted it online and mailed Jun’s body parts to two elementary schools and political parties in Ottawa before fleeing to Europe, where he was captured and brought back to Canada for trial.

Magnotta didn’t testify during his trial and has never spoken to media.

Yourkin has also remained silent, until now.

“I was in shock. I didn’t want to speak to anyone,” said Yourkin, who maintains a relationship with her son.

Instead, she picked up a pen and wrote. She wrote throughout her son’s trial and for years afterward.

The result: My Son, The Killer, a book Yourkin co-authored with writer Brian Whitney. It came out last week.

“I started this book in 2013, and it was part of a healing process and to do my own research and investigation and just to come to terms with what had happened,” Yourkin said during a phone interview with The Examiner on Monday.

As someone who has always enjoyed writing, Yourkin said it came naturally to write about what was unfolding. She said she needed to do something and that was it.

Yourkin later teamed up with

Whitney, who interviewed Magnotta by phone and mail at the penitentiary in Port-Cartier,

Que.

Magnotta, 36, wrote to Whitney saying he was ready for the truth to come out.

“My background has constantly been edited, I haven’t spoken to anyone about any of this, none of this is my side of what happened,” Magnotta wrote.

Magnotta was born Eric Newman and grew up in Peterborough and Lindsay, attending Lindsay Collegiate. My Son, The Killer touches on his childhood, upbringing and teenage years.

The book also shares Yourkin and Whitney’s insights and opinions.

“It’s a very in-depth look into a side that no one else has seen before,” Yourkin said.

She said she hopes the book dispels any misunderstandings about her son, his trial and her family. Magnotta is the oldest of his four siblings. “I hope it clears up all the misconceptions … and helps maybe bring some closure to some answers that people have.”

All chapters titled Anna, in My Son, The Killer, were written by Yourkin. Words in italics are direct quotes from Magnotta to Whitney.

Most of the book is written by Yourkin and Whitney, but what Magnotta did get to share is likely a weight off his shoulders, his mother said. “I’m sure getting it off his chest was an incredible relief.”

Yourkin said her world changed when Magnotta was born — and 29 years later, it changed again.

“It’s been a rollercoaster for our entire family. It’s been a devastating, horrific tragedy.”

In the book, Yourkin answers questions about her son, hoping to shed some light on what drove him to commit such a horrendous act. She said expects there’ll be a lot of mixed feelings about what the book reveals, but said she hopes people will take the time to hear the other side.

“My goal is that people hear two sides and maybe when they’re informed, it will change their opinion.”

There have been some happier moments as of late, though. Last year, Magnotta married a man incarcerated in a New Brunswick institution.

“I have a wonderful son-inlaw,” said Yourkin, who attended the wedding in June 2017.

Life after tragedy continues, Yourkin said, but in a different way.

“You move on with the life you’re left with. You can’t change what’s happening, but you also have to live. And you have to do it the best way you can.”