An Ontario man already charged with aiding and abetting suicides with kits he sold online now faces 14 new charges of second-degree murder.
The new charges against former engineer and chef Kenneth Law were filed in Newmarket court on Monday and appear to describe new allegations in the same deaths where Law was already charged with aiding and abetting suicide.
Police in Canada have warned about websites allegedly run by Law, and at the time of his arrest earlier this year said they had traced some 1,200 products to 40 countries.
A person whose family member died confirmed to CTV News that police had informed them of the second-degree murder charge, but did not want to be identified.
Law, once a chef at Toronto’s Royal York Hotel and a former engineer, has said he’s not responsible for what people do with his products and has denied the charges. He remains in custody.
In August, Britain’s National Crime Agency revealed that 272 people had ordered products that could be used to kill themselves from Canadian websites, and that 88 of them had died.
The agency said at the time that it would conduct a criminal investigation into the offences in the UK.
A CTV News investigation has put the number of deaths possibly linked to Law at more than 100, according to authorities, media and family members in countries including the U.S., U.K. and New Zealand.
Police have said they plan to address the new developments in the case at a press conference on Tuesday.