Bizarre Crime of the Week : Investigation Discovery: The Case of the Canadian Bus Killer

August 24, 2008

Some cases, simply put, go way beyond bizarre, and this is one of them. Readers be forewarned that some of the details of this story are quite gruesome, and are not for the squeamish.

It all began late Wednesday evening, July 30, 2008, aboard a Greyhound bus en route from Edmonton, Alberta, to Winnipeg, Manitoba. The bus was traveling along a lonely and deserted segment of the Trans-Canada Highway, several miles outside of Portage La Prairie, a small town of about 13,000 people and one of the last stops along the lengthy trip before reaching Winnipeg. Many of the passengers were sleeping, and others were enjoying reading material with their overhead reading lights on, and some of the passengers were watching a movie. Tim McLean, 22, was seated beside a man of Oriental persuasion, who officers with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) would later identify as 40-year-old Vince Weiguang Li. Li had boarded the bus in Brandon, Manitoba, approximately 80 miles west of Portage La Prairie. McLean was one of the passengers who had been sleeping during the evening leg of the trip, wearing headphones. It seemed doubtful that he even saw or heard what was coming.

McLean was seated behind passenger Garnet Caton, who was among the first of the passengers to see the horror that occurred that fateful night. McLean and Li had been sitting quietly for most of the trip, and Caton later told police that he had not heard them speaking at all prior to the violence.

"We heard this bloodcurdling scream and turned around, and the guy was standing up, stabbing this guy repeatedly," Caton told news media personnel from a hotel where he and the other passengers had been taken. "It was like something between a dog howling and a baby crying, I guess you could say. I don't think it will leave me for awhile.... When he was attacking him, he was calm. There was no rage, or anything. He was just like a robot stabbing the guy."

There was much blood, and many of the passengers began vomiting from witnessing the sickening sight.

According to Caton's account of the horrific event, the driver promptly stopped the bus when he realized that someone was being attacked and quickly ushered the passengers off of the bus. A short time later Caton, the bus driver, and a truck driver - curious about what was happening - reentered the bus and saw that the already bad situation had actually gotten worse. Li had McLean down on the floor of the bus and was in the process of cutting his head off with what appeared to be a large hunting knife.

When Li saw the three men on the bus with him, he came toward them with the knife. Caton, the driver, and the trucker quickly exited the bus as Li slashed at them through an opening in the door, but they were able to block the door to prevent Li from escaping. The driver disabled the bus from the outside when it became apparent that Li was attempting to start it up with the intention of driving away.

At one point, while the three men guarded the door with a hammer and a crow bar as they awaited the arrival of the police, Li very calmly returned to McLean's body, picked up his victim's head and brought it to the front of the bus to show it to his captors. At one point he dropped McLean's head and returned to the decapitated body and began hacking off pieces of it with a knife. At another point he began eating the pieces that he had cut from McLean's body, witnessed by RCMP officers after their arrival.

Li, according to witnesses, had been on the bus for about an hour and had not been sitting next to McLean at first, but moved into the seat next to the victim at one of the rest stops.

"You're sitting there enjoying your trip and then all of a sudden somebody gets stabbed," RCMP Sgt. Steve Colwell said. "I imagine it would be pretty traumatic."

Many of the 37 passengers had been watching a movie, The Legend of Zorro, that evening when the violence broke out.

According to Colwell, Caton, the bus driver, and the trucker were very heroic, and their swift action undoubtedly helped keep the other passengers safe. He described them as "very brave." Colwell said that what they saw that evening would shake even the most seasoned police officer.

Portions of a radio transmission between the police were leaked out and made it onto the Internet. Click here to hear a short clip of the radio transmission, in which Li is referred to as "Badger." The officer said, in part: "Okay, Badger's at the back of the bus, hacking off pieces and eating it."

Li was arrested by RCMP officers approximately three hours later when he attempted to escape from the bus.

Li's employer, Vincent Augert, an independent newspaper distributor in Edmonton, described Li as a model employee who was one of his most reliable carriers.

"He was very punctual and always cleanly dressed," Augert told The Associated Press. "He was a very nice, polite guy. We would've had no reason to let him go before all this happened....I had no odd suspicions about him at all....he used to come to work every day and pick up his papers and get them to all his customers without any problems."

Augert said that Li had recently asked for some time off to go to Winnipeg, but had never heard back from him after Li had left him a message requesting the time off.

"That was unusual for him not to call back, and then when he didn't show up for work…we got worried," Augert said. "And then when I found out in the news that Li was being pinned for the brutal attack, I was in utter shock."

Li also worked at a McDonald's restaurant in Edmonton.

McLean, who worked a carnival circuit, was described as a "sweetheart" by a friend.

"To anybody who knew him, he was that bright, bubbly, happy guy," said a friend, Mayme Martin, who also worked in the carnival with him. "He was always out for fun. I already miss him....He was tiny. We all called him Tiny Tim. He picked on me because I was smaller than him. But it was all in good fun. He'd never even hurt a fly....I cannot think of anybody who would not miss him."

Li, meanwhile, was charged with second-degree murder. He has no known criminal record, and was being held in a Winnipeg jail facility under 24-hour video surveillance, and was awaiting psychological evaluation. At a court appearance when Li was asked if he wanted a lawyer, he simply shook his head "No" and softly said, "Please kill me."

Investigation Discovery will keep you informed about this apparently unprovoked crime of extreme violence as the case progresses.

Photo Credit: Freeimages.co.uk