MICROWAVED HUMAN MEAT!
Accused killer charged with eating neighbor
KILLER cannibal James David Russell butchered a neighbor in Idaho and chowed down on the man’s microwaved remains — because the psycho believed eating human flesh could “cure his brain,” investigators say.
Russell, 39, was already facing a first-degree murder charge in the Sept. 10 death of David Flaget, 70. But Bonner County Prosecutor Louis Marshall recently filed an amended criminal complaint putting cannibalism on the legal menu.
Police say the latest charge is the first of its kind in Idaho since a state statute outlawed the practice more than three decades ago!
The sheriff’s office earlier claimed cops found Flaget’s corpse on a property where Russell lived. His brutalized body was upside down in the passenger seat of his vehicle, and his wrists were duct-taped together.
Detectives claim they “established probable cause” the senior died from head trauma at the hands of Russell after repeatedly clashing with the accused killer.
But autopsy results and newly filed court documents have fleshed out the grisly details of the alleged maneater’s actions!
A report states “pieces” of Flaget’s body were discovered in the suspect’s home the day after the man’s murder. And among those chunks was said
to be a “thermal artifact” — suggesting the murdered man’s hacked-off flesh was cooked!
Investigators say they also seized a blood-spattered microwave, bowl and knife from the scene.
Authorities admit not all of Flaget’s remains have been recovered!
Court proceedings were suspended as Judge Tara Harden ordered Russell to undergo a mental health evaluation. He remains in state custody, where he’s being held without bail.
Detective Phillip Stella says, “It wasn’t 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.”