Cannibals - The Twisted Killers Who Ate Their Victims

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Do cannibals still exist? Well, as hard as this information may be to digest (excuse the pun) yes, even in Western civilisation we still have cannibals, even today, whether as murderers who wish to devour tasty souvenirs of their victims (as with serial killers; Jeffrey Dahmer, Andrei Chikatilo and Albert Fish), isolated families like Sawney Bean of Scotland, numerous religious cults across the world and even in incidents such as Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571 which crashed in the Andes and the survivors were forced to eat their recently deceased to survive. Cannibalism exists.

What follows is a small sample of various incidents of cannibalism over the last twenty years which you may or not have heard about, and which I hope you'll find interesting. Warning: don't click on any of the links (in red) if you are squeamish. 

On 26th May 2012, Rudy Eugene (31) viciously attacked and began to eat and digest the face of homeless man Ronald Poppo (65) by the side of the MacArthur Causeway in Miami, Florida. The incident was caught on The Miami Herald's security camera which witnessed both men, naked and bloody, thrashing around on the floor, until Eugene was shot and killed by the Police. Having survived, Poppo has received facial surgery and counselling. See the video here. 

March 2001, Armin Meiwes of Essen* (Germany) posted an online advert requesting a young man for him to kill and eat. Amazingly, Bernd Jürgen Brandes replied, met with Armin, offered himself up, died by being stabbed in the neck and was chopped up and served with garlic and olive oil. In total, Armin ate 20kgs of Brandes' flesh, having frozen the remainder to eat later. In 2004, Armin was convicted of manslaughter but in a 2006 retrial was found guilty of murder and sentenced to life imprisonment. Watch a full documentary here. *Oddly, "Essen" in German means "food" or is also the verb meaning "to eat". 

In 2009, chef David Viens murdered his wife (Dawn), slow-cooked her corpse in a 55 gallon drum over four days at his restaurant - The Thyme Contemporary Cafe near Long Beach - he then "...let her cool, I strained it out", ate some of her flesh and then dumped her remains of her corpse in the bin. Watch a full documentary here. 

On the evening of 30th July 2008, 22 year old Canadian Tim McLean was asleep on a Greyhound bus near Manitoba, when the man sitting next to him - Vincent Li -  an untreated schizophrenic, repeatedly stabbed McLean with a large knife in the neck and chest, beheaded his victim and began to devouring some of McLean's flesh. Now known as Will Baker, Li was found not guilty on the grounds of diminished responsibility, was granted an absolute discharge and currently lives at home, under minor medical supervision. Watch new clip here. 

July 2002, three men and one woman, all resident of Zhytomir in west of Kiev (Ukraine) were arrested for killing and cannibalising an eighteen year old girl, having lured her to a forest on the outskirts of town. Black magic book's were found at the couples flat and this murder is believed to be part of a satanic ritual. Read more here. 

In February 2004, 39 year old paranoid schizophrenic Peter Bryan walked out of a psychiatric unit in Newham (East London) and visited his friend Brian Cherry. A few hours later, Police were alerted by neighbours to screams coming from the flat, and as they entered the kitchen, they discovered Bryan frying Cherry's brain in a pan with a small knob of butter. Read more about Peter Bryan here. 

In July 2013, Police in Salerno (Italy) were alerted by neighbours to a foul odour emanating from the flat of 45 year old Lino Renzi; inside they found him cooking some intestine chunks on the grill, which belonged to his 73 year old mother - Maria Pia Guariglia. She'd been beaten to death, chopped up with a saw and a butcher's knife, and popped into various pots or bagged and placed in the fridge for further meals. Read more. 

April 2011, in Darya Khan (in the Punjab Province, Pakistan), two brothers Farman & Arif Ali were arrested for grave-robbing and cannibalism and served two years in prison. Upon release, they were re-arrested just a few months later when Police caught them in their kitchen making a curry out of a human corpse... this time, a two year old child. Although their relatives deny this, there's a BBC interview here. 

8th October 2008, the Mexican Police (FPP) attempted to arrest Jose Luis Calva Zepeda for the suspected disappearance of his girlfriend - Alejandra Galeana - but upon entering his home, they found him eating a bowl of human flesh which he'd seasoned with lemon. On further inspection, various parts of Alejandra's dismembered corpse were found in the refrigerator, in a frying pan and some of her bones (gnawed clean) were found in a cereal box. Read more in this Newsweek article. 

In May 2009, in Bakersfield (California), PCP "Angel Dust" addict Angelo Mendoza Senior was charged with torture, child cruelty and inflicting an injury to a child having eaten his 4 year old son’s left eye and attempted to eat the other. Upon his arrest, his son - Angelo Mendoza Junior -  stated to the Police, “my daddy ate my eyes”.  Mendoza Snr was found guilty by reason of insanity and Mendoza Jnr has regained some sight. Read more. 

On 13th April 2012, Tokyo-based activist and artist - Mao Sugiyama - cut off his nipples and genitals as part of a stunt to promote gender equality and asexuality, and served his testicles and penis at a public event, which were served with button mushrooms and parsley. 70 people turned up but only 5 people ate his genitals. They'd each paid 100,000 Yen. Read more. 

Other incidents of cannibalism include South Korea's Yoo Young-Chul aka The Raincoat Killer, rap artist "Big Lurch", Indian child serial-killer Surinder Koli, Turkish serial-killer Özgür Dengiz, Russian serial killer Alexander Bychkov, and Chinese serial killer Zhang Yongming. As well as a few instances where couples and friends have eaten each others face off, including Florida's Austin Harrouff and South Wales' Matthew Williams. ​

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If you "enjoyed" this blog post, why not take a peek at my other articles: such as serial killers and their diets, favourite drinks, height, IQ, star signs, lunar cycles, dates of birth, reasons for killing, music, nicknames, last meals and whether they're alive or dead... to name but a few. ​​

No plans this weekend? Why not book yourself into Murder Mile Walks, hailed as one of the best "curious, quirky and unusual things to do in London". Click BOOK NOW for tickets. ​

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Michael J Buchanan-Dunne is a writer, podcaster, crime historian and tour-guide who runs Murder Mile Walks, a guided tour of Soho’s most notorious murder cases, hailed as “one of the top ten curious, quirky, unusual and different things to do in London” and featuring 12 murderers, including 3 serial killers, across 15 locations, totalling 75 deaths, over just a one mile walk.