New Haven Register (New Haven, CT)
Federal prosecutors charge ‘Chinese Zodiac Killer’ with mailing threatening letters
ALBANY — Federal prosecutors have charged a New York man with mailing threatening letters to media outlets, offices and places of worship in states across the Northeast, including Connecticut.
Jesse Bartlett, 46, of La Fargeville, was arrested on May 19 after the FBI collected evidence he was behind a series of threatening messages, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.
U.S. Attorney Carla Freedman said Bartlett addressed the threats to media outlets, government offices, houses of worship and private businesses throughout New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, New Hampshire, Vermont and the District of Columbia.
“In the letters, which he signed as the ‘Chinese Zodiac Killer,’ Bartlett wrote that he killed people, ate their flesh, and that he intends to kill more people, including an unnamed bus driver,” department officials wrote in a press release.
A criminal complaint filed in federal court alleges that at least one of the more than 100 messages sent by Bartlett was mailed to President Biden at the White House. The first threat was mailed as early as April 2021, according to the complaint.
Bartlett faces a maximum sentence of five years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000. A magistrate judge ordered him detained pending a May 23 detention hearing.