Murder charges filed in cannibal case

CNN.com ^ | April 17, 2006 | N/A

[MizSterious]

 

Murder charges filed in cannibal case

'Fantasies getting weirder and weirder,' suspect wrote in blog

PURCELL, Oklahoma (CNN) -- Prosecutors filed first-degree murder charges Monday against a grocery store clerk accused of killing a 10-year-old neighbor in a bizarre scheme to consume human flesh.

Kevin Ray Underwood remained in a Oklahoma jail cell under a suicide watch. He is being arraigned Monday afternoon in the slaying of Jamie Rose Bolin.

Bolin's aunt, Linda Chiles, said Monday that she hopes Underwood is convicted and put to death.

"I feel sorry for his family. I feel sorry for our family," Chiles told reporters. "What he did is unspeakable. There's no way to take it back. There's no way to fix it. He didn't just break a glass; he broke a baby."

"I just hope he gets what he deserves. I hope they give him the death penalty," she said. "He doesn't deserve to stay any longer. She doesn't get to be here."

The girl's body was found late Friday in a plastic tub hidden in a bedroom closet in Underwood's apartment in Purcell, south of Oklahoma City, District Attorney Tim Kuykendall said.

A police affidavit says Underwood confessed to killing the girl. ()

Underwood's blog allegedly revealed his bizarre intentions.

[MizSterious]

The courthouse in Purcell looked like a satellite truck farm. Fox was reporting that people were driving by yelling threats out their car windows (aimed at Underwood), but shortly before noon when we drove by, nothing of the sort occurred. The community is in shock, though.

[MizSterious]

Suspect blogged about cannibalism

'Dangerously weird' fantasies would get him locked up

PURCELL, Oklahoma (AP) -- The man accused of killing a 10-year-old neighbor girl for an elaborate plan to eat human flesh joked about cannibalism on his online diary, discussed the effects of not taking his anti-depression medication and mentioned "dangerously weird" fantasies.

All he wanted in life, Kevin Ray Underwood wrote in his blog, was "to be able to live like a normal person."

People who knew Underwood described him Sunday as a quiet, "boring" and seemingly trustworthy young man. His mother, who lived across town, called him a "wonderful boy." 

The 26-year-old grocery store stocker was arrested Friday. Investigators searched his apartment after he aroused their suspicions at a checkpoint, and found a large plastic tub in a bedroom closet.

According to a police affidavit, he confessed that he killed Jamie Rose Bolin, telling FBI agents: "Go ahead and arrest me. She is in there. I chopped her up."

More at CNN.com

[BunnySlippers]

Anyone know if he was taking his medication at the time of the crime? Reading the blog he did go off them from time to time and his depression spireled out of control.

And, if we have any knowledgable professionals here I'd love to know if people who have fantasies of cannabalism know right from wrong and have much control over their compulsions.

[Homer1]

This calls for a good old-fashioned public stoning

[MizSterious]

Girl’s family is urging respect for suspect’s kin

By Chad Previch
The Oklahoman

PURCELL - Family members of 10-year-old Jamie Rose Bolin on Easter wept as they urged residents not to blame her accused killer’s family and to treat them with respect.

On the same day, Kevin Underwood’s mother tearfully told The Oklahoman that she is sorry for the pain caused by her son and that the family still loves him.

Standing near a memorial that swelled Sunday to cover a tree with balloons, stuffed animals, cards and a purple Easter egg at her cousin’s apartment, Nikki Chiles said children should treat Underwood’s sister with the same dignity they would show Jamie.

“We don’t blame his family,” Chiles said. “We just don’t want people to think we blame them.”

Jamie’s family spent Easter purchasing a flower and a card they planned on signing for her. Chiles said they’ve also been thinking about Underwood’s family.

On Saturday, authorities released details into Underwood’s confession.

Police claim Jamie was hit on the head three times Wednesday with a wooden cutting board and smothered by Underwood’s hand and duct tape.

They claim Underwood, who lived in an apartment below Jamie, told investigators he tried to cut off her head and sexually molested her after she died.

Jamie’s body was found with deep saw marks to her neck in an apparent attempt to decapitate the body.

Underwood was stopped at a police checkpoint Friday evening and then arrested.

Connie Underwood, Kevin Underwood’s mother, said she was relieved to hear Jamie’s father and other relatives don’t blame them.

“I’m just so sorry about what happened to that little girl,” she said weeping. “I just wanted to tell him how much we are sorry. I don’t know how this happened. I’m just glad they don’t hate us.”

Kevin Underwood was never in trouble, was a hard worker and was trying to improve his life, his mother said.

She said she doesn’t know what led to her son planning a gruesome homicide but that her son suffers from social anxiety and had started retaking medication six or seven weeks ago.

Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty and said a first-degree murder charge will be filed today.

The family has not hired an attorney for Kevin Underwood, and his mother said one will be appointed. They have not talked to him since the arrest.

“I would tell him that I love him,” she said. “He’s done horrible things but we’ll always love him. He’s our son. You can’t change that.

“We’ll help him in any way we can.”

Source

[MizSterious]

I think if you wade through some of blog entries, you can track when he was on, and when he was off his drugs to some extent because he mentions it. I'm curious to know how much of his blogging is expressing his true thoughts, and how much might be trying to set up an insanity defense. He told police he'd been planning this for a year, so he could have been preparing for a way to avoid prosecution.

[BunnySlippers]

It doesn't lessen his crime but I think Kevin did not get the help he should have. I'm wondering who is responsible. His blog mentions that he finally went to his mother and told her (but he doesn't say to what extent he told her everything" and that she brushed it off saying to "stop" thinking those things.

I wonder if he even told his psychiatrist how bad it was.

[BunnySlippers]

Well, he mentions the unmentionable fantasies in September 2004. I can't imagine setting up a defense that far ahead but maybe.

I think there is much to be learned about those who profess cannibalism. I have forgotten the psychological reason for why it happens.

Also, would ove to know if he killed animals when he was a kid.

I'm hitting the freeways now. :)

[noobiangod]

Nah, set him free and give him a Nobel Peace Prize. After all he only killed and planned to eat 1 person. He's much more peaceful than that piece of garbage tookie williams.

[justche]

It doesn't lessen his crime but I think Kevin did not get the help he should have. I'm wondering who is responsible.
_____________________________________

He is responsible -- Not the drugs, not co-workers - not internet porn - not his parents - HE is.

[yellowdoghunter]

This is an unspeakable crime. But I am grateful for the way both families are handling it. I know it is hard on both families. Neither family deserved what is happening to them.

I pray for all involved.

[jokar]

Anybody have a link to his blog ?

[Cementjungle]

The 26-year-old grocery store stocker...

I would feel a bit uneasy if I ever bought meat at that grocery store.

[BunnySlippers]

most people are referring to Strange Things Afoot at Circle K ... the main blog:

http://www.futureworldruler.blogspot.com/

Then Optymyst has mirrored his other blogs and My Space accounts that have been taken down. Starts middle page:

http://optymyst.blogspot.com/2006/04/kevin-ray-underwood.html

[BunnySlippers]

While I will agree that he is completely reponsible for the crime and should be executed if convicted I have posited the idea that perhaps it could have been prevented if his psychiatrist ir his mother could have eitherf made him stay on meds or had him committed.

Again, he is responsible for the crime.

And, as Miz has mentioned, there is a possibility that all or some of the blog is a ruse.

[MizSterious]

Well, I confess to not really caring much about "what made him do it."

I read his blogs, and I see all this whining about being bored, about this small town area sucking his soul out of him (or some similar drama-filled rhetoric), and I can only say, So why didn't he just pack a suitcase and move?

He had these go-nowhere jobs, he seemed not to care much about his family, and he had no friends--so nothing was holding him here.

He could have moved, but no, he chose to stay and kill a little girl--a terrible price to make HER pay for HIS self-induced boredom.

He was also intelligent by all accounts--and probably capable of planning a way out of paying for what he did. We already know he told the police he planned to kill and cannibalize a number of people for a year--maybe it was in the works for even longer.

How long ago did he claim to have these sick fantasies? I'd say that he had them long before he wrote about them, and that the planning actually started around the time he started writing about them.

But ultimately, I don't care why he did it. I just want him punished.

[MizSterious]

No kidding. It's bad enough thinking that at some time we might have been in line behind him (or worse, in front of him) at the grocery, hardware, or pizza joints.

[BunnySlippers]

I actually agree about "he did it, punish him". But, unlike you, I am curious as to what drove him to it. You brought up an excellent point that he may have been setting up an alibi and I must say I drove home on the freeway contemplating that idea. It may very well be the case.

But if he, like Jeffrey Dahmer, had real tendancies toward cannibalism then he is in a very select group. Yes, he should be punished by death but I think that science can learn a lot about people who are freaks. Let's temper that by saying we do not know if he was faking cannibalism.

Most people who would like, won't for obvious reason eat the body. Jeffrey Dahmer did ... but this guy did not in the end. Perhaps we'll never know.

[MizSterious]

Interesting article from www.channeloklahoma.com, our local ABC affiliate--but the article is from AP. Interesting because, completely different description of what he did, despite what the police have said--did they choose to make him look better, or...?

Also, there was quite a scuffle in the courthouse--although no mention of drive-by threats.

---

First-Degree Murder Charge Filed Scuffle Ensues Outside Courtroom POSTED: 9:45 am CDT April 17, 2006 UPDATED: 6:08 pm CDT April 17, 2006 PURCELL, Okla. -- Authorities said he led investigators to his apartment, where they found the girl's body in a large Rubbermaid tub sealed with duct tape in his bedroom closet.A grocery store stocker was arraigned Monday on first-degree murder charges for the killing of a 10-year-old girl in what authorities described as an elaborate plan to eat human flesh. Kevin Ray Underwood, 26, appeared in McClain County Courthouse before Judge Gary D. Barger. The judge entered a not guilty plea for Underwood and provided him with court-appointed attorneys. During the arraignment, a man in the hallway outside the courtroom yelled, "Let's string him up. Let's string him up, baby killer. Hang him." The man, identified as Bruce Shwartz, 48, was led away by police and arrested on complaints of obstructing an officer and obstructing the peace. Underwood, who entered the court in a jail jumpsuit with his hands and feet shackled, spoke in a soft voice when the judge asked him whether he needed a public defender, "Yes, sir. I need a court-appointed (attorney)." After the arraignment, District Attorney Tim Kuykendall said he would be seeking the death penalty and likely would not oppose a defense request that a gag order be imposed. "In my 24 years as a prosecutor this ranks as one of the most heinous and atrocious cases I've ever been involved with," Kuykendall said. The judge said a defense motion for a gag order would be the subject of a court hearing Tuesday. Silas Lyman and Diane Box were selected as Underwood's court-appointed attorneys. "Within just a few days of the discovery of this crime, this case attracted national attention," the motion stated. "Such widespread interest has been fueled at least in part by inflammatory, prejudicial and conclusory statements made by both the district attorney and Purcell police chief David Tompkins to the media." Underwood was arrested Friday and held without bail after drawing suspicion at a checkpoint set up near the apartment complex where he and Jamie Rose Bolin were neighbors in this small town 40 miles south of Oklahoma City. Authorities said he led investigators to his apartment, where they found the girl's body in a large Rubbermaid tub sealed with duct tape in his bedroom closet. Authorities believe Underwood lured the 10-year-old into his apartment on Wednesday, beat her over the head with a wooden cutting board and suffocated her with his hands and duct tape. Purcell Police Chief David Tompkins said investigators believe Underwood sexually assaulted the little girl after he killed her and planned to eat the corpse. Meat tenderizer and barbecue skewers found in his apartment were intended for the little girl, Kuykendall said. According to a police affidavit, Underwood confessed that he killed the girl, telling FBI agents: "Go ahead and arrest me. She is in there. I chopped her up." Police said that while there were deep saw marks on the girl's neck, she had not been dismembered. In a brief, tearful telephone interview with The Associated Press, Underwood's mother was in disbelief and horror over the accusations. "This is something that I don't know where it came from," said Connie Underwood. "He was always a wonderful boy. "I would like to be able to tell her family how sorry we are. I just feel so terrible." Tompkins said Tuesday that Underwood's parents have visited with him. "I got the family down here and they visited with their son for about 25 minutes," he said, adding Underwood and his parents ended up in tears.  "They talked behind a glass wall by phone. "It seemed to help the family out a lot and help Kevin out a lot. "Kevin realizes he has done wrong." The slain girl's aunt, Linda Chiles of Guthrie, urged the community to respect Underwood's family. "They had no way of knowing," she said. A funeral for the girl was set for 11 a.m. CDT Thursday in the Purcell High School gymnasium followed by a burial in Guthrie.

[Nita Nupress]

She [his mother] said she doesn’t know what led to her son planning a gruesome homicide but that her son suffers from social anxiety and had started retaking medication six or seven weeks ago.

Hmmmm. So at least now we know that someone told her, probably him or his lawyer (setting up a "Lexapro-made-him-do-it" defense), that he "started retaking medication six or seven weeks ago." Whether or not he actually started retaking them, we don't know yet. He could have told her a few weeks ago about his intentions, so she assumed he followed through. This guy was the Prince of Procrastinators. I'm not convinced yet.

The source needs to be solid before we really know for sure, something such as pharmacy records, doctor visits/calls, or lab work to see if it's in his system. Do they even test for legal meds when they arrest someone? I know they do drug screens, but I wonder if they check serum levels for psychotropic meds? Any LE people here know that answer?

When anyone runs across any more information about his medications, I'd appreciate a ping. I have people asking me and I don't know what to tell them.