After Vince Li murdered, beheaded, and cannibalized Tim McLean in a bus in 2008, he avoided criminal responsibility by claiming he was suffering from untreated schizophrenia. The saga has resurfaced after another defendant, Jeremy Skibicki, accused of killing four Indigenous women in 2022, raised a similar defense.
Vince Li’s whereabouts are unknown after he changed his name to Will Baker
In 2017, Manitoba’s Criminal Code Review Board gave Will Baker (formerly Vince Li) an absolute discharge, ruling that he no longer posed a significant threat to public safety. Baker’s physician testified that he was confident Baker would keep taking his medication and continue working with the treatment team after his release.
Li changed his name to Will Baker, and reportedly planned to live in Winnipeg for the next few years. His doctor said that Baker planned to establish a career in the city after completing a post-secondary programme.
“He is no longer a violent person,” Chris Summerville, then executive director of the Manitoba Schizophrenia Society, said (per The Guardian). “I will say, yes, he absolutely understands that he has to [take his medication] and has a desire to live a responsible, moral life and never succumb to psychotic episodes and not to hurt anybody ever again.”
Baker’s whereabouts following his release are unclear. Carol de Delley, the victim’s mother, who opposed Baker’s absolute discharge, told APTN News, “Vince Li changed his name to Will Baker and may well have changed it again. We have no idea where he is; he is not required to report anywhere or to treat his lifelong illness.”