Luka Magnotta, the killer who is the focus of Netflix’s Don’t F**k With Cats, is married and apparently living a life of relative luxury in prison.
The Canadian killer was sentenced to life in prison in 2014 following the 2012 murder of Jun Lin, who is said to have been lured to Magnotta’s apartment through a Craigslist post advertising a casual hookup.
Magnotta filmed the murder of Lin and shared it online as part of a series of videos in which he also killed numerous animals. The videos are featured in the Netflix docu-series, which details how a group of internet users and cat lovers went to extreme lengths in order to find the person responsible for the videos and put a stop to his crimes.
Magnotta is serving his sentence in Quebec’s Port-Cartier prison, and will be eligible for parole in 2039. Though the time behind bars is punishment for murder, the killer appears to have made a nice life for himself in prison.
In 2015, the Toronto Sun obtained letters written by the serial killer, which revealed the facility felt more like a ‘university setting’, as Magnotta claimed doors inside the prison were ‘open 90% of the time.’
One letter read:
I just bought Celine Dion’s album and a lot of others. I have a stereo and a portable for when I suntan outside.
It appears Magnotta also managed to find love while behind bars, and in 2017 he reportedly married fellow inmate Anthony Jolin, who is also a convicted killer.
Don’t F**k With Cats touches on Magnotta’s obsession with films, the measures he put in place in an attempt to excuse his crimes, and the details of his arrest, though there is a lot of information about the killer which wasn’t featured, including his original name.
The wannabe actor was born Eric Kirk Newman, but changed his name in 2006 as part of an effort to ‘reinvent’ himself, Esquire reports. Before pursing his career on screen, Magnotta was convicted of fraud in 2004 for misusing a friend’s credit card and amassing around $17,000 dollars in charges.
Netflix’s documentary raises questions about the state of Magnotta’s mental health, though it does not mention he went to see a psychiatrist the month before the murder of Lin.
According to the Montreal Gazette, the killer went to the Jewish General Hospital in April 2012 and told the psychiatrist he couldn’t sleep, and was feeling impulsive and irritable.
He reportedly mentioned a history of paranoid schizophrenia and said he often heard voices and he feared he was being followed, which may provide further explanation as to why Magnotta set up multiple Facebook accounts and claimed he had been manipulated by a mysterious figure named Manny Lopez.
Don’t F**k With Cats also neglects to explain the moment a third hand appears in one of Magnotta’s videos. Though the killer’s mother, Anna Yourkin, draws attention to the discrepancy in the documentary, it appears to be quickly forgotten.
Unfortunately, it seems an explanation for the mystery hand is yet to be shared.
The details of Magnotta’s case are extremely lengthy and, as Netflix didn’t manage to fit it all into three episodes, true crime fans could spend a lot of time going down the rabbit hole to learn all about the killer.
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Emily Brown first began delivering important news stories aged just 13, when she launched her career with a paper round. She graduated with a BA Hons in English Language in the Media from Lancaster University, and went on to become a freelance writer and blogger. Emily contributed to The Sunday Times Travel Magazine and Student Problems before becoming a journalist at UNILAD, where she works on breaking news as well as longer form features.