Warning: graphic content.
Montreal police investigators are awaiting tests to confirm whether they have found the final missing remains of Lin Jun, the Chinese university student who was dismembered in a shocking homicide a month ago.
Acting on information from an unidentified source, police officers seized what reportedly appeared to be a human head from a pond in a park in the west-end neighbourhood of Angrignon.
Montreal police have been questioning Luka Magnotta, who is charged with murder in the case, hoping he might reveal the location of Mr. Lin's head. Police had said he was not co-operating.
Montreal police were approaching the apparent find with caution. Shortly after the killing, they fell for a hoax involving a fake foot.
"We have to wait for analysis over the next days, the next week, to confirm whether it is a body part and whether it's related to ... the Magnotta case," said police spokeswoman Constable Annie Lemieux.
Angrignon Park is on the western terminus of the Montreal subway system's green line, which runs through a neighbourhood where both Mr. Magnotta and Mr. Lin once lived.
Mr. Lin's torso was found in a trash pile shortly after he was killed and dismembered in a crime that was allegedly recorded on video. His hands and feet were mailed to two political parties in Ottawa and to two schools in Vancouver.
The case captured global attention as Mr. Magnotta fled to France and then Germany, leading police on a very public chase. He was turned in by an attendant at an internet cafe and he was quickly returned to Montreal.
A 29-year-old native of the Toronto area, Mr. Magnotta is in custody while he awaits a preliminary hearing in March on a charge of first-degree murder among other charges.
Mr. Lin's family from China was in Montreal for a memorial service last week. They were awaiting a death certificate and hoping to receive the rest of Mr. Lin's remains before returning to China.
Les Perreaux