WARNING: This story is extremely disturbing
UPDATE: (Aug. 3, 4:29am PST) Video- Tim McLean’s uncle reads family’s statement
alex mclean
UPDATE: (Aug. 3, 4:07am PST): Family remember Tim McLean as charming free spirit
UPDATE: (Aug. 2, 6:07am PST): Suspect’s boss in total shock (edmontonsun.com)
Accused killer described as model employee
The man accused of butchering and beheading a Greyhound bus seat-mate was a polite and punctual Edmonton newspaper carrier who recently asked for time off to attend a job interview in Winnipeg, says his boss.-edmontonsun.com
UPDATE: (Aug. 1, 9:50pm PST): Around noon today, Beyond90Seconds.com published audio (mp3) of the police scanner communications (available below) that unfolded as law enforcement responded to the crime scene. This evening, thestar.com posted a story about the “leaked” recording, including a transcript of the audio.
UPDATE (Aug. 1, 8:26pm PST): How a madman’s blade cut Tim McLean’s reunion short (globeandmail.com)
Alexandra Storey, Mr. McLean’s ex-girlfriend, said he sent her dozens of texts as the Greyhound he was riding made its way east to Winnipeg from Edmonton Wednesday night. The 22-year-old Winnipegger was coming home after seven weeks working on a carnival tour of Western Canada.
He told her some of the other passengers were taking ecstasy, a party drug with stimulant properties, and that he was counting down the hours by sending a new text at every town he passed. -globeandmail.com
POLICE SCANNER TRAFFIC (mp3): Again, a warning. This is believed to be legitimate audio of police speaking as they observe the killer in the bus. Ultimately, it ends with word that the subject is “eating” the victim. This audio was apparently released by the Web site LiveLeak.com. It originally included video (still pictures). I thought the video was flippant and made light of a terrible crime. So, I’ve simply converted it all to audio.
Update: myspace page (profile page) for Tim McLean, Jr. Here is a direct link to several pictures of Tim McLean, Jr. on his mypace (pictures) page.
*NOTE: Just as I was about to click “publish” for this post, a breaking news story identified the victim of the Greyhound bus attack as Tim McLean, Jr. The suspect is 40-year-old Vince Weiguang Li of Edmonton. He is charged with second-degree murder.
***
(August 1) Like so many of you, I experienced a moment of shock Thursday when I first learned about the murder of a Greyhound bus passenger in Canada. I didn’t want to believe it.
I Googled and even double-Googled, hoping to learn the story was actually a fabrication cast upon the ‘net by a less than noble mind.
But there it was. A handful of headlines, at first. Initially out of Canada. Then, Australia. England. The story quickly spread around the world.
I was tempted to blog about the case, but have found myself emerged in another project while balancing family-life. So, I simply elected to create a “Breaking News” brief near the top of this blog’s sidebar. Visitors could click-through to Canadian newspaper accounts of the murder.
Still, I periodically checked for updates on the chilling case.
Passenger accounts described a cold, calm and deliberate killer; a man who seemed to be going about the business of gutting a buck.
The victim, believed to be about 20, had reportedly been sleeping, wearing headphones. And was apparently unknown to the man who would soon hold-up his severed head as if it were a trophy.
How to explain this (reportedly) random killing?
It’s a story so disturbing, I tried to push it out of my mind as I focused on other tasks.
But my mind drifted back to it a few more times last night. That poor young man. And the way witnesses had described his scream.
Soon, we will learn more about the killer. And the young man.
If you appreciate the treatment of this story and the information collected here, please tell a friend about Beyond90Seconds.com. Thank you.
It’ll be interesting to learn what supposedly motivated the killer, that’s for sure.
This gruesome act sounds like mind control rather than a random act of violence.
yes very interesting to see what would make a man snap like that. It has got my attention
Hi Penny,
Thanks for checking-out my blog. I’ll be sure to get a copy of McGowan’s book!
BTW, just visited your blog. Looks very professional. Nice layout.
Best,
Mark
Hey batguano – that is exactly what I thought. The description of the killer, calm, methodic..
The poor child’s family – horrible what they must be going through – he looks like an okay kid.
what a story!
I have had it up all day, with updates, I lost my shaw link, for my audio, as it is gone, and am linking to you with much thanks and will do so at my blog, great job, btw.
One more thing, I happen to be reading Programmed to Kill by David McGowan right now, and then this happens, freaky.
check that book out! I have been blogging on it and have links up to six parts of it, prepare to be shocked though.
This grizzly creature pig deserves eternal maximum punishment. I am so angry he won’t. I never heard of a murder that blood-curling that could happen to one of my friends’ co-worker
An unfathomable act, unless this person had lived through horrific scenes as *everyday* happening in his formative years.
I agree with Batguano, looks like mind control the alternative is unthinkable. Looks like someone or somebody got to him and suceeded. My heart goes out to the family of that poor kid.
as if there is not enough problems in this world, just taking a bus back to your family is dangerous.this young man did not deserve this and neither does his family.maybe someone should wait for this vince li to go to sleep and do the same to him.with things like this happening in the country why is so many people still fighting the death penalty?after this man is found guilty we the tax payers have to feed and put clothes on this murderer’s back ,now that is not fair to us as.may this young man find peace where ever he is and my respects and condolences go out to his family .
You’d only think this sort of thing happens in movies and horror films. In fact, this incident reminds me of one the most disturbing movies I’ve ever seen called “The Untold Story” http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B00000IC9C
which actually happens to be a true story!
This Vince Li has some serious psychotic mental disorder!
I believe this happened because he literally is a living Cannibal in modern times!!! Such a thing must be extremely rare.
The psychiatrists and criminal psychologists who now have him detained are having all the satisfaction of getting all the answers. Myself and surely many others are curious to know this man’s family and his history (where he lives and what he does for a living)
I guess we’ll all have to wait until Tuesday when he’s back in court.
I believe this is why this incident is getting world attention right now.
My heart goes out to Tim’s family and friends AND that poor innocent kid.
As one witness described “a howling dog and a baby cry”!!?? My God! Pure Evil!
Who, in our civilized society can imagine the horror of being stabbed in the neck and the chest repeatedly from some random stranger!!! I take public transit everyday and how can anyone tell if another commuter is demented? (If this person wears sunglasses, has an expressionless face and acknowledges no one around him is supposedly a good indication?!! I see it all the time !!!)
This is just a horrible crime; it bothers me to think about it so I cannot imagine what people who witnessed this must be going through mentally right now. I am not sure about mind control, it seems like to me that this man at least somewhat planned this, I would bet he got on that bus with every intention of killing someone, he even had a knife beforehand, he sat in one place and then got up and made his way to the back of the bus. To me this sounds like a killer scoping out the people until he was able to find his victim, and then he finally sat next to the person he chose. I think this man needs to be prosecuted to the full extent of the law. He deserves nothing less than what he is responsible for doing to that poor kid! I guess he could be “programmed to kill” but even then he is a danger to society and should have to pay for his actions just like everyone else. What he did is unimaginable, and yet now people are haunted by witnessing this act first hand, a family has been destroyed, friends devastated. If this man walks I will be so pissed and I am not even in the same country. People who do things like this (no matter the motive or reason) are killers, and they should be treated as such.
First, my heart goes out to the victim and his family. That precious, innocent young man did not deserve such a horrific end to his life. This is a good argument for concealed carry pistol permits. Had even one such lawfully armed citizen been present on the bus, the killer might have been the only one who left the buss dead! Refuse to be a victim! Take back your right to defend yourself! As far as the killer is concerned, nothing can excuse his conduct. Since the cops didn’t shoot him dead at the scene, I hope that he gets some “prison justice” and is drowned in a toilet full of human excrement, which is what that monster is. With his transfer ticket punched to the next life, he can receive his eternal punishment – I hope he burns in hell forever!!!!!
You know, it wouldn’t surprise me if this guy (Li) was on some sort antidepressant such as Zokoft, Paxil or Luvox. There have been many accounts of practically quite calm people doing some horrendous acts of violence including homocide and suicide while taking or trying to come off of these drugs. Do a google search on the topic and see.
Seems like this man just does a complete 180 degree and loses it completely. From what I can gather, he was nomal when he got on the bus. Had to be some drug he was on at the time. Sad though, he probably will not spend a single day in prison… he’ll get an insanity plea going for him, and will someday be back on the streets, thanks to some other new drug which they will give him to alter his behaviour. It’s sad how depraved humanity can get, and what folks will do to other folks. This case will be an interesting one to watch as it unfolds.
I am at a lost.I am really wondering what could have made him snap like that.
You will notice the MSM Mainstream Media omitting any reference to the murder’s origin. He is a CHINESE IMMIGRANT who arrived in Canada only four years ago.
It appears that the immigration reform website VDARE.com is one of the few sites that pointed that fact out
here.
You know what?? I don’t give a damm what kind of problem this guy was suffering from, it is just an excuse!!! If this was my son I would travel to where ever he was and want to look him in the eye and then I would want to kill him!! Maybe I sound like a mad man but there is No excuse for this to happen in a sane world. This poor kid died and his family will never recover from the news of his death. Now the murderer will not speak, well I say Beat it out of him!!!
I really hope that the passengers don’t feel that they did the wrong thing by getting off the bus as fast as they could. If they hadn’t there would have been more people who died that day…
Things happen for a reason. I suspect there was something going on inside that bus – perhaps a nasty conversation or some sort of physical contact prior to the incident. I want to know what all the passengers have said as well. I see a lot of posters who jumped quickly into the conclusion that it was Li’s fault. Yes, I would be upset if it was my child who got killed, but I also see Li as a victim as well. I would argue that he was under depression and could have mentally collapsed when he lost his mind. To prevent this from repeating in the future, we need to know why this happened. And condemning Li to “burn in hell” or capital punishment will not be able to persevere the opportunity to resolving tragedies like this from happening again.
Bronte are you serious????? WTF???? I don’t care if the real victim, the kid that is, stepped on Li’s toes and punched him in the groin while on that bus NO SANE PERSON CUTS SOMEONE ELSES HEAD OFF FOR ANY REASON!!!!!!! Li is a sub-human animal that should be treated as such. Unfortunately there is no real justice in this world and this animal will get to live out the rest of his days. This is what should happen: The police and phsycologists extrapolate what Li’s “motive” was so that for what they are worth, some answers can be had, the powers that be hand the each of victim’s family members a 3″ serrated blade knife and allow them each as many stabs as their arms can give, then they give the victim,s father a .22 calbre pistol with three 10 round magazines, all of which he gets to empty into this animal until he has relinquished his last breath and the right to breathe with the rest of us…
Yes, that’s what we’ll do. We’ll exact some brutal justice on the killer which will in turn make everyone a million times happier… it’s thinking like that which sets mankind back another 100 years… while we’re at it lets burn him at the stake! Don’t get me wrong though, what he did was very inexcusable but to go about employing the ‘eye for an eye’ motto will only make things worse and we’ll learn nothing of this situation if we ever have to deal with something similar to it (god forbid) in the future.
My heart and my condolences go out to all of the family and friends of Tim Mclean. I am not for the death penalty, but in severe cases like this Canada’s judicial system seriously needs to reinstate it. ALL of the evidence and proof that is needed to reinstate the death penalty for this case is there as big as life. I’m not for the “eye for an eye” motto either and my form of puishment for Tim Mclean’s killer has nothing to do with it, it’s called “justice”. Just the mere thought of having the killer sit in prison or in an insane asylum for the rest of his pathetic life, serves absolutely NO purpose. Where would the “justice” be in that? This psychopathic waste of human space needs to be permanently removed from society, not simply “quarantined” for the rest of his life because he doesn’t deserve to have one.
First of all the thought that this young kid was just minding his own business and travelling back home to see his family and this happens to him makes my blood boil. It is becoming so apparent that our societies that we live in are quickly deteriating. This murderous act is shocking to say the least but the amount of sick things that are going on nowadays makes me just shake my head. Where is our respect for each other as human beings?.
This Li guy needs to have his wish granted and be executed, the mind control thing is intersting although I think a little out there (my opinion).
To kill someone is bad but to do what this POS did and completely defile this mans body is beyond comprehension…my questions are…
what was going through this guys mind and why did he seem so calm?
Why did he have a knife and scissors?
Could the other passangers have at least tried to grab the knife?
Im not judging the other passengers at all but was there a chance to at least try and intervene?.
RIP Tim.
i couldnt possibly imagine what anybody who knew tim is going through… i cant seem to get my mind away from this story i wake up thinking about it i fall asleep thinking about it.. its insane, i wish i was on the the bus and could of done something as im sure everybody else wishes they could have done something…. i just keep thinking i wish i could of known someone like tim… but then i think im glad i didnt… because if my heart hurts this much for someone i didnt even know… i couldnt imagine knowing him
Since the killer was so zoned out the passengers could have plotted and attacked this guy, 35 people on 1, come on, the poor guy sat on that bus and got stabbed 50+ times , then cut up, thats insane, that guy would have to kiill me too, what kind of life would i live after just standing there watching this man perform this act on this innocent young man, the passengers will never again live a normal life, i’m so sorry for that. The cops should have put 100+ shot in Li’s ASS, cops stay killing innocent people why not kill this cannibal. I’m so angry. poor Tim, I hope he didnt suffer for long. RIP Tim
another beheading a few days later
http://www.iht.com/articles/reuters/2008/08/03/europe/OUKWD-UK-GREECE-DECAPITATION.php
me and my family feels terrible all about this, i heard about it from my brother and i thought he was teasing me. so i decided to go to cnn and there and behold it was the awful stories. i heart and prayers go out to the family and friends. this is just a horrible tradegy…what is going on with this crazy world. now i dont ever want to ride on a grey hound bus. another thing, what me and my family cant understand is why none of those men even tried to help the poor boy, i know my son would of done anything to try and save him.
What do you expect? This government is “showering” us with immigrants from all over the world. We’re bound to end up with “monsters” like Mr. Li sooner or later. The cops should have shot the “son of a b—–” on the spot.
Jane Wesley: are you f***ing kidding me? Immigrants? Monsters? Does the name Timothy VcVeigh ring any bells? Get your facts from another place other than FOX News.
Duga: Please, this is not a forum for argument. I made a fair statement and a fairly accurate one at that. Thanks for the tip – I’ll have to start watching FOX News.
Jane Wesley: are you kidding???? Only RACIST people would make that comment you made, blaming it on “ethnicity” and the killer being an immigrant. It has nothing to do with race, idi0t. mental illness and psychotic tendencies doesnt choose which race to affect. It wasnt a fair statement nor an accurate one, just a racist statement. its comments like these that make sane and sensible PEOPLE (notice i didnt use the word MIGRANTS)turn angry and psychotic. EVERYBODY has a breaking point!
That guy in the above video can’t seem to stop telling how he was worried about everyone but himself, he is obviously in denial about why he didn’t help Tim. And he should have, he makes himself look like such a fool. Those fleeing passengers didn’t need him, he is just using that as an excuse for his own fear. Second degree murder??? what an outrage!! I am so tired of this kind of bs put these monsters in theyre place.