‘Don't F*** With Cats’ Sleuths Open Up About The Most Emotional Aspects About The Case

The two star sleuths from the hit Netflix docuseries “Don't F**k With Cats: Hunting an Internet Killer” got sentimental and emotional during their CrimeCon2021 panel.

“John Green” and Deanna Thompson spoke about their incredible quest to capture Canadian murderer Luka Magnotta, while showing their more sensitive sides.

The pair became world famous following the release of "Don't F**k With Cats,” which documented how they tried to track down Magnotta, then an unknown animal murderer, after he uploaded horrific animal abuse videos. Later, he murdered a Chinese college student named Jun Lin with a screwdriver that was modified to look like an ice-pick in a disturbing video he posted titled “1 Lunatic, 1 Ice Pick.”

While reflecting on the brutal case, Thompson choked up while talking about Lin. Thompson and Green shared some of the most frequently asked questions they face and one was on why, in the docuseries, Thompson appeared to cry over a dog's death, but not Lin's. She explained that the moment in the series where she cried came as she watched a horrific video in which a dog was gnawing at Lin's corpse. 

“It was that moment, because knowing what I know about Jun Lin, he was such a fantastic person,” she said while choking up during the panel discussion. “Knowing what I know and what a great person he was, he deserved so much more respect than that.”

Photo: CrimeCon2021

Lin was a 33-year-old international undergraduate student from Wuhan, China. He moved to Montreal in 2010 to study engineering and computer science at Concordia University. The online sleuths featured in “Don't F**k With Cats” believe Magnotta lured Lin to his apartment with a Craigslist personal ad in which he said he wanted to make a “fun” movie. 

Lin’s friends described him as positive and genuine — a stark contrast to his killer, according to a 2012 article in The Star. 

Benjamin Xu, who called himself Lin’s best friend in the docuseries that he was reserved and shy. He was gay but not openly and this drew him to Canada, because of the country’s reputation as a “more liberal and accepting place,” Xu said.

Green, whose real name has never been disclosed, expressed his frustration over police in Montreal — where Magnotta lived when his cat abuse videos began circulating on the internet — telling them that there was nothing that could be done from afar. He and Thompson were told they’d have to go in person to give information about his animal abuse and fears that he could escalate to human homicide. Green expresses some regret now that they didn’t fly into the city to talk to police in person. 

“We should have, we could have,” he reflected, but noted “we’re normal people. [...] A lot of the time we questioned ourselves. Are we doing the right thing? Should we be doing this anymore?"

Thompson also reflected on her frustration.

“He’s going to f***king kill somebody. What do we do,” Thompson said, expressing annoyance that people in authority seemingly didn’t listen to them. She also expressed regret about not doing more, despite the countless hours of dedication that the pair and their group of fellow sleuths put in to stop Magnotta. 

The pair, who lovingly poked fun at one another throughout the panel, ended it on a sentimental note, explaining that they are still close friends. Nothing could be clearer.

Green said the two talk “like brother and sister.”

“You don’t go through this kind of trauma without forming lifelong friendships,” Thompson said. “We will be friends for the rest of our lives over this.”

CrimeCon 2021 is presented by Oxygen.