Police in Canada investigating the horrific murder and dismemberment of a student have been contacted by Los Angeles police officers about a similar slaying of a 66-year-old man, whose body was found under the famous Hollywood sign, according to reports.

The Toronto Star reported that 29-year-old porn film actor Luka Rocco Magnotta, the man suspected of killing of Chinese student Jun Lin, may have lived in Los Angeles at one time. Montreal police told the paper that he had lived somewhere on the U.S. West Coast.

In late January, the remains of a retired airline worker were found in Los Angeles. The body of Hervey Medellin, 66, had been found by dog walkers near the Hollywood sign after one of the dogs found a plastic bag containing his severed head.

Victim identified in Hollywood severed head case

"The body parts are the common denominator here," Los Angeles police spokesman Officer Lyle Knight said, according to the Star. "That's why our investigators want to talk to the Canadians. We want to know if his whereabouts included Hollywood because we understand he was in the acting field and Hollywood being the acting and movie mecca, we want to know."

Los Angeles police told ABC News that Medellin was openly gay, and noted that Medellin's hands and feet had also been cut off.

The similarities between the Los Angeles killing and the Canada murder four months later are striking. Lin, 33, who was studying computer science at Concordia University in Montreal, was killed in May. His hands and feet were sent in the mail to schools in Vancouver and political offices in Ottawa, while his torso was found in a suitcase in Montreal. His head has not been found.

Canada police: Notes mailed with body parts

Investigators say Magnotta, who was Lin's lover, videotaped the killing and dismemberment in his apartment and posted it online. The video also shows the suspect eating parts of the body, police said.

Magnotta was arrested in Berlin, Germany, on Monday in connection with Lin's murder and is expected to be extradited to Canada.

Canadian police: Body parts delivered to Vancouver schools

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Two University of Southern California graduate students from China were shot to death in a car overnight in what could be a bungled carjacking, Los Angeles police reported Wednesday.

The victims, a male and a female, were shot around 1 a.m. local time on a residential street about a mile from campus.

USC later identified the victims as electrical engineering grad students Ying Wu and Ming Qu.

Police were interviewing neighbors and searching the area on Wednesday.

A Los Angeles police spokesman said a witness saw a man running from the scene, NBCLosAngeles.com reported.

Frederic J. Brown / AFP - Getty Images

One of the Chinese students shot dead in Los Angeles had run to this home for help.

The male victim was able to stumble onto a nearby porch before collapsing, while the woman was found slumped over inside the vehicle, a late-model BMW, the Los Angeles Times reported.

USC campus police sent out two alerts about a deadly off-campus shooting -- one at 6:03 a.m. that reported a shooting, and a second 21 minutes later that stated that a male and female had been shot dead.

The campus was not locked down, though the second alert advised students "to be mindful of their surroundings and review safety tips" on a USC website page.

USC says 7,200 of its 38,000 undergrad and graduate students in 2011 were international, and that the largest group was from China.

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Seven people have been arrested in the United States on charges of trafficking in endangered rhinoceros horns, federal officials said.

The most recent arrest took place Wednesday night when Jin Zhao Feng, a Chinese national, was taken into custody at Los Angeles International Airport, Thom Mrozek, a spokesman for the U.S. attorney's office, said Thursday.

Authorities suspect him of overseeing the shipment of dozens of rhino horns from the U.S. to China.

The arrests were the result of an 18-month investigation that was called "Operation Crash" — the term for a herd of rhinoceroses — and scrutinized an international smuggling ring that trafficked in sawed-off rhinoceros horns. The horns are used by some cultures for ornamental carvings, good luck charms or believed medicinal purposes, including cancer.

"The rhino is an animal of prehistoric origin that is facing possible extinction because of an illegal trade for its horns on the black market that is driven by greed," said Ignacia S. Moreno, assistant attorney general for the Justice Depatment's Environment and Natural Resources Division.

Spike in rhino poaching threatens survival of species

All species of rhinoceros are protected under U.S. and international law, and all black rhinoceros species are endangered, federal officials said.

Rhino horns are composed of keratin, the same type of protein that makes up hair and fingernails. Rhinoceros horn is a highly valued and sought-after commodity despite the fact that international trade has been largely banned since 1976.

According to a report by NBC's Rock Center, an average-sized rhino horn in Vietnam can sell for as much as a quarter of a million dollars, which makes rhino horn gram for gram more valuable than gold or cocaine.

The arrests were initially reported by the Los Angeles Times.

Three of the alleged traffickers caught in Southern California were Jimmy Kha, 49, his girlfriend Mai Nguyen, 41, and Kha's 26-year-old son Felix. Each faces four counts of rhino horn trafficking in violation of federal laws protecting rare and endangered species.

Investigators reportedly seized several rhino horns, more than $1 million in cash, $1 million in gold bars, diamonds and Rolex watches during the raids, NBCLosAngeles.com reported.

One of the alleged suppliers, Wade Steffen, was arrested in Hico, Texas, and charged in Los Angeles, federal prosecutors said.

The Khas began receiving packages from Steffen and another alleged supplier in 2010. Seventeen packages were opened under federal search warrants and 37 rhinoceros horns were found, according to a criminal complaint filed in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles.

South African town dehorns rhinos in attempt to ward off poachers

A search of Steffen's luggage at the Long Beach Airport on Feb. 9 turned up $337,000 in cash.

According to NBCLosAngeles.com, the rhino horns seized as part of the raids were reportedly destined for buyers in Vietnam and China.

In New Jersey, Amir Even-Ezra was arrested Feb. 18 on a felony trafficking charge after purchasing rhino horns from a New York resident in New Jersey.

Antiques expert David Hausman was charged in U.S. District Court in Manhattan with illegally trafficking rhinoceros horns and with creating false documents to conceal the illegal nature of the transaction, prosecutors said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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