Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - June 10, 2012, Winnipeg, Manitoba C M Y K PAGE A4 NEWS LOCAL A4 SUNDAY, June 10, 2012 O TTAWA - They met as strangers for a threesome in a Toronto apartment, and Luka Magnotta took a liking to the transgender girl his same age - so much so that the other guy stormed out, said he was going for a pack of smokes and never returned. Luka Magnotta was 23 and years away from becoming the monster depicted in the headlines. Then an aspiring porn actor and an escort for older men, he ended up courting the girl and would go on to live with her in 2006. It was her darkest romance. Magnotta's ex- girlfriend, who wishes to remain anonymous, recalls a date that year in which the two went to see the Sharon Stone film Basic Instinct 2 on opening night. Magnotta insisted they sit in the front row, and she recalls him holding her hand through the scene where a mystery blond woman kills a man with an ice pick. The online video of the alleged killing at Magnotta's Montreal apartment is titled 1 lunatic 1 ice pick. Magnotta's ex- girlfriend said he was prone to mood swings at the time she knew him, and was infatuated by serial killer Karla Homolka. " He talked at length about Karla," she said. She said Magnotta - at the time, a year away from filing for bankruptcy - spared no expense in the courtship, renting limousines to pick her up for dates at noted Toronto restaurants. It was fun, she said, at least at first. But their sex life was lousy, she said, because of his river- bottom sex drive. " He didn't have much of a high sex drive when I was with him, to be honest. I kept begging him for sex, and he would never give it to me. This one time he allowed me to give him oral sex but it only lasted for one minute," she said. Magnotta wouldn't even kiss her on the lips. He wanted only to hold her hand, take her to the movies and wine- and- dine her at fancy restaurants. When not eating out, she said, Magnotta ordered pizza all the time, and never cooked meals. He always made the sign of the cross before he ate, saying he was raised to be grateful for what was on his plate. He told her that he couldn't sleep with her because it didn't mean anything special to him; because Magnotta had sex " with old men for money," and because he was dating her, she said, " He wanted to express that kind of love in a different way." She said Magnotta was " very cold" and would go silent when they argued. When she dumped him, she said Magnotta insisted they remain friends. She didn't keep in touch and one of the last times Magnotta called her he said he'd had a " bad experience" with a john. Magnotta invited her on a holiday in Greece, but she declined. " He got mad ' cause he didn't understand why I didn't want to go." She said Magnotta would get upset over little things. " I remember, I knocked down a picture frame of himself, and he freaked out on me. " He was hot and cold. I just thought the whole relationship was... weird, you know?" Magnotta's ex- girlfriend also said he constantly wanted her to take pictures of him. She said the first thing he did every morning was " market himself" on the Internet. " He wanted to be famous," she said. Meanwhile, the Miami Police Department is the latest force searching for ties between Magnotta and an unsolved homicide. Magnotta, arrested in Berlin following an international manhunt, is the prime suspect in the death and dismemberment of 33- year- old Concordia University student Jun Lin. While there is no evidence to connect Magnotta to any such crime elsewhere, the brutality of his alleged modus operandi and his extensive international travels have caught the attention of investigators in several jurisdictions. The latest is a veteran Miami homicide detective, whose department has been trying to solve a three- year- old cold case that shares similarities to the Montreal slaying. Sgt. Confessor Gonzalez plans to contact Montreal police to explore possible links between Magnotta and the mysterious 2009 death and dismemberment of Guatemalan national Omar Laparra. Police forces in Los Angeles and Gatineau, Que., have also indicated that they're inspecting Magnotta's recent activity because both jurisdictions have unsolved homicide cases involving corpse mutilation. - Postmedia News Magnotta girlfriend speaks out Accused killer described as infatuated with Homolka By Gary Dimmock and Justin Ling PARENTS of some Southeast Collegiate students and aboriginal officials want answers explaining why a one- use blood- test device was used with about 80 teens, causing them to be tested for possible exposure to hepatitis and HIV. While officials with the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority are assuring parents and students the chance of them having contracted hepatitis B or C or HIV is unlikely and remote - because a new lancet was used for every poke and only the device holding the needle was used again - parent Rosalind Monias is still angry. Monias said nobody asked for her consent before her 17- year- old daughter was tested for diabetes at the school's Health and Wellness Day. Monias claims a school official came to her door only last week to have her sign parental permission forms for the diabetic testing along with other test consents. " I couldn't sleep last night," she said. " You can't just go and practise on our young children because it is something you want to do." Last week it was learned dozens of children, without parental consent given, were poked by a University of Manitoba professor for a diabetes test at the school on May 4. Manto Sipi First Nation Chief Michael Yellowback, whose 15- year- old son goes to the school but didn't take part in the test, said he is upset about the whole matter. " They say the risk is minimal but it is not zero," Yellowback said. " We have brought down parents from the reserve so they can be with their children when they get the ( test) results on Monday. But it doesn't end then because they have to be retested six months from now. " It is deeply concerning the negligence and incompetence that was shown that day." During a press conference Saturday, Manitoba Keewatinowi Okimakanak Grand Chief David Harper said even if parental permission had been given, the test itself was done improperly. " This was totally uncalled for," Harper said. " The well- being of all the students and families involved in this incident are of paramount concern to me." School officials could not be reached on Saturday. Southeast Collegiate was established in 1995 and is a residential school in Winnipeg for aboriginal students operated by several First Nations. kevin. rollason@ freepress. mb. ca Parents, officials seek answers Blood- testing questions remain By Kevin Rollason POLICE HANDOUT / THE CANADIAN PRESS Luka Magnotta: prone to mood swings MELISSA TAIT / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Rosalind Monias with Manto Sipi First Nation Chief Michael Yellowback. Monias says nobody asked for her consent to test her daughter for diabetes. Nothing like the threat of a good ol' rip- roaring storm to spice up a Saturday night. U. S. storm chaser extraordinaire Reed Timmer got the ball rolling with a tweet he sent out at about 8 p. m. " Supercell exploding in extreme northeast ND! We're going to wait for it on the Canada side near Gretna." Then, about an hour later came this: " Waiting in Gretna, Man., for supercell with strong rotation. About to see 3" hail and likely a tornado in 10- 20 min!" It was Timmer's last tweet for several hours. While tornado warnings were issued for several towns in southern Manitoba, none reportedly touched down. In Winnipeg, heavy rain, strong winds and golf ball- sized hail were reported, but police said they didn't experience a spike in calls and there were no reports of damage and no lines down or traffic lights out. Timmer, who starred in the nowcancelled American reality television series Storm Chasers , was seen shortly after the storm hit Gretna tearing down Highway 75. " Just north of Morris. No rain, but intermittent lightning. Just passed U. S. storm chasers," tweeted Chris D. Tweeters to # mbstorm picked up the ball from there. Valerie Peers (@ ValerieinWpg) tracked the storm's progress across Winnipeg through the behaviour of her dog. " Storm getting closer, Murphy the barometer is drooling & shaking like a leaf," she tweeted at about 9: 45 p. m. Then about half an hour later she followed with: " Rain seems to have stopped & no hail in old St. B. Murphy still hiding in the bathroom... more storm to come??" Finally, about 15 minutes later, her pet sounded the all- clear. " Ok, storm definitely over in St. B - Murphy has emerged from the bathroom & is eating his cookies!!" Other than pets, plants and hockey playoffs were also a concern for some tweeters. " I'm soaked and that hail kind of hurts, but think I got all the plants covered up. It looks ghetto but fingers crossed!" tweeted Nesta (@ Nesta- MAZING). Kim Browning (@ Kim_ Browning) tweeted: " Thankfully hockey didn't go into OT, expect power outage soon!" Just before 11 p. m., tornado warnings were lifted for the province. Forecasters reported Saturday evening the storm system pushed into Ontario around midnight, but warned another round of severe thunderstorms is possible today as thunderstorms in the Dakotas may move into southern Manitoba early this morning. Shortly after midnight this morning, Timmer sent this tweet from somewhere in the Sandilands: " We're back! Saw a cone/ stovepipe tornado off to our east after dark with lightning in the pine forests." - staff Quite the show in the sky Thunderstorms with large hail roar through area A_ 06_ Jun- 10- 12_ FP_ 01. indd A4 6/ 10/ 12 12: 24: 45 AM ;