Alleged cannibal thought consuming victim’s flesh would ‘cure his brain’

A shocking incident coming in from the United States, a 39-year-old man was taken into police custody for a murder allegedly believed that consuming his victim’s flesh would “cure his brain”. The accused, James David Russell hails from Idaho, he was charged with cannibalism following his alleged statement.

David Russell was nabbed in September for killing a 70-year-old man, identified as David Flaget. Russell was charged with first-degree homicide after officials found Flaget’s remains in a car just outside Russell’s residence. The deceased’s hands were fastened with duct tape and some of his body parts were not there, as per reports in Daily Beast.

When police arrived at Russell’s residence, he had a minor altercation with them. Later, when he surrendered, he said: “It’s private property and we don’t like non-family on it.”

According to reports, police found a ‘blood-soaked microwave, glass bowl, duffel bag and knife during their search of Russell’s abode.

Detective Phillip Stella stated: “When dealing with death and carnage, it’s a shock to our conscience.” Stella further added that Russell’s cannibalism charge may be the first of its kind in Idaho.

“It was not the bloodiest crime scene, but it’s more of the psychological, ‘What the heck is going on here?’ and ‘Why am I picking up pieces?’ It’s a walk down the dark path that we don’t see very often,” detective said.

The officials and the legal paper mentioned that Russell believed he would be able to “heal himself by cutting off portions of flesh”.

The tissues recovered from Russell’s home were proven to have been of Flaget’s in a post-mortem carried out on 13th September, three days after the killing, confirmed that the tissues found in Russell’s house belonged to Flaget.

Some of Flaget’s remains have still not been found.

“Flaget had many conflict-like run-ins with Russell and told the family about them,” detective Stella said. “The family had enough warning signs that Russell was a danger to himself or others.”

Russell is scheduled for a review hearing on 28th December.

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