Call it selfie craze or a "standard procedure", the French lorry driver who allegedly beheaded his boss before ramming his vehicle into a chemical plant near Lyon, reportedly took a selfie with the victim.
The Guardian reported an official as saying that the selfie was forwarded via WhatsApp to a phone number in Canada. French investigators have been working to determine the recipient's identity.
Jean-Christophe de Le Rue, a spokesman for Canada's public safety minister, was reported as saying that Canadian authorities were involved in the case.
"While I cannot comment on operational matters of national security, we are assisting the French authorities with their investigation," he said.
Yassin Salhi, who allegedly decapitated his boss Herve Cornara, has reportedly confessed to the murder, but his motives remain unclear.
He told detectives he had killed Cornara in a parking area before arriving at the plant in Saint-Quentin-Fallavier, 30 km south of Lyon, where he attempted to cause an explosion on June 26.
According to latest media reports, Salhi told police that he wanted to kill himself and stage a media coup by dressing it up as a terrorist act. Salhi told the investigators that he had acted alone.
No terror group immediately claimed responsibility. The severed head appeared to mimic IS's practice of beheading prisoners and displaying their heads, and came barely days after the militant group urged attacks during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
French authorities said Salhi had links to radical Salafists in the past.
Agnes Thibault-Lecuivre, a spokeswoman for the Paris prosecutor's office, said investigators had not found any foreign connection.
