11 Grisly Facts About The Man Who Decapitated And Ate A Stranger On The Bus

There are crimes, and then there are crimes. In the case of Tim McLean, a young man stabbed, dismembered, and cannibalized while riding home on a Greyhound bus bound for Winnipeg, the details are beyond words. They would leave an indelible mark on witnesses and put the normally tame Canadian justice system to the test. This bus ride gone horribly wrong would not only cost the 22-year-old victim his life, but it exposed the frightening reality of mental illness run rampant.

When Vincent Li, a diagnosed schizophrenic, randomly boarded the bus that day, no one could have ever anticipated the depth of his depravity or the severity of the voices in his head. Later dubbed the Canadian Cannibal, Li committed one of the most shocking and unbelievable crimes of the decade that night, reminding anyone who heard the tale that humans are, indeed, the real monsters. What makes the case truly stunning, however, are not the grisly details but the fact that Vince Li is now a free man. 

It was around 6 pm on July 30, 2008 when Vince Li, a tall, well-built Asian man, boarded a Greyhound bus traveling from British Columbia to Winnipeg. Standing over six feet tall, he cut an imposing (if quiet) figure. Some passengers say he seemed agitated and possibly confused as he climbed aboard, but he did not seem to be a threat. He chose a seat near the front of the bus, spoke to no one, and eventually disembarked briefly to smoke a cigarette at a rest stop. When Li returned to the bus, he seemed dissatisfied with his original seat, choosing instead to sit next to Tim McLean towards the rear of the bus. 

When police boarded the bus, they were faced with an intensely gruesome scene. Not only had McLean's remains been hacked apart and decapitated, but there seemed to be some missing body parts as well. When they searched Li, they found the victim's nose and tongue in his pocket. Findings later revealed McLean's eyes and part of his heart were never recovered, supposedly eaten by his killer that night. 

The horror of the situation took its toll on everyone involved. Many of the passengers from that night suffered from reoccurring nightmares and feelings of severe anxiety. The Mountie who first boarded the bus the night of McLean's death never recovered from his shock. Although he had been exposed to many gruesome and frightening scenes over the years, he could not seem to shake those bloody images from his mind. Burdened and overwhelmed by his PTSD, he finally took his life six years after the murder. The trauma had simply become too much, and he could not longer do his job or handle the daily torment of his own private hell. 

As the passengers ran screaming from the bus, the driver and two other brave men carefully boarded the bus again to see if they could help the victim. Li chased them away with the knife, forcing them to exit the bus and lock the door from the outside. Li grabbed McLean's severed head and brandished it for the stunned passengers, dropping it near the door and then retreating to eat some flesh from the mutilated body. 

Born on October 3, 1985, McLean was an active athlete and a beloved son, father, brother, and uncle. He had a large extended family. He was known as an adventurous person who loved traveling and meeting new people. He took up employment as a carnival employee in 2008 and was returning home on Greyhound bus 1170 through Saskatchewan. He had boarded the bus earlier in the day, around noon, and sat in the rear, one row ahead of the restroom.  

When Li moved to the seat next to him, he thought nothing of it. He barely acknowledged him and proceeded to fall asleep, his head against the window and headphones in. He was awoken just five minutes later as Li began to stab him in the neck. 

Vince Li was 44 years old at the time of the crime, having immigrated to Winnipeg, Canada from China in 2001. Although he studied computer science in China, he was unable to find steady work in Canada, moving from jobs at McDonalds to Meatland Food to Walmart, where he was eventually fired over a disagreement with a coworker. All the while, he harbored deeply disturbing thoughts about aliens and how he had been chosen by God to vanquish them.

It was only later he understood this voice to be a symptom of schizophrenia, and not the work of a divine power. Li traveled around trying to find the aliens he was supposed to destroy, and he felt he finally came to the end of his search when he saw McLean that day. McLean was the alien he was destined to kill. According the voices in his head, he was doing everyone a service by killing the sleeping man, even though he knows now it was completely wrong. 

There were dozens of witnesses that day when Li changed his seat and positioned himself next the sleeping McLean. Just moments after the bus began moving, Li calmly pulled out a massive hunting knife and began stabbing it repeatedly into McLean's neck. The young man instantly snapped to attention and began screaming in pain and horror — a scream that haunts many of the other passengers to this day. Although he fought desperately for a few moments, he was no match for the crazed killer.

As Li stabbed McLean over and over, he was calm and methodical, never changing his expression or showing emotion. Onlookers were shocked by his lack of rage and the way he committed the killing almost robotically, stabbing him close to 60 times according to one witness. As the screams of horror filled the bus and the driver pulled urgently to the side of the road, Li began to cut off McLean's head and dismember his body.

For those who witnessed the horrific killing of Tim McLean, there can be no peace. Some tried to drink the memories away, while others have sought therapy and even moved to new locations. For many, their lives have been destroyed by the PTSD they experienced after the killing, and some are paralyzed by large crowds or loud sounds.

The thing most of the passengers seem to recall with perfect clarity is the sound of McLean's scream as he woke to the terror of what was happening. They just can't seem to rid themselves of the sound. For others, they can only feel numbness. 

Vince Li was not a well man. Before he boarded the bus that fateful evening, he was already showing signs of someone on the brink of a mental episode. He was observed sitting at the bus stop, long before his ride was scheduled to arrive. Emotionless and quiet, he posted a sign reading "Laptop For Sale $600 O.B.O." in front of his luggage and sat. And sat. In fact, he sat there through the entire night, bolt upright with his eyes open.

The next morning, just hours before he would board the bus with Tim McLean, he sold his laptop to a 15-year-old boy for $60. Once Li's gruesome crime was uncovered, however, the computer was quickly confiscated. 

Although Li was obviously responsible for his actions that evening, Canadian law has surprisingly lax requirements for those with mental illness. Li refused to hire a lawyer. However, those who represented him stated he could not be accountable for what he did due to his untreated schizophrenia — and the judge agreed. As a result, Li was committed to a high-security psychiatric ward for one year so he could be evaluated and treated according to his condition. 

McLean's parents, on the other hand, were looking for answers, none of which they found that day. Their lives were shattered by their son's untimely death, and it seemed no one could be held responsible for their pain. 

The report soon came into the Royal Canadian Mounted Police that there had been a stabbing on a Greyhound bus west of the city, but authorities were not remotely prepared for what they would find. They arrived to find Li still on the bus, and a group of men guarding the the door with a crowbar and hammers. Cleverly, the driver engaged the emergency immobilizer system so the killer could not attempt to drive the bus away.

By 9 pm, the police were in a standoff with Li and as he paced the length of the bus, trapped inside, until special negotiators and heavily armed tactical units arrived on the scene. When he tried to escape through a back window of the bus, he was Tasered twice and handcuffed.