10 Gruesome & Terrifying Cases Of Cannibal Killers

On the spectrum of criminal atrocities, perhaps only one violation surpasses murder: eating human flesh. Meet 10 individuals who allegedly killed and consumed their victims.

October 29, 2019

By: Mike McPadden

Photo By: Luka Magnotta [Interpol]

Photo By: Detlev Guenzel on trial [ROBERT MICHAEL/AFP via Getty Images]

Photo By: Mug shots of Jeffrey Dahmer [Milwaukee Police Department]

Photo By: Mug shot of John Ortiz-Kehoe [Michigan Department of Correction]

Photo By: Mugshots of Albert Fish [WikiMedia Commons]

Photo By: Mug shot of Anthony Morley [West Yorkshire Police]

Photo By: Mug shot of Joe Metheny [Baltimore Police Department]

Photo By: Omaima Nelson during her sentencing [Glenn Koenig/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images]

Photo By: Mug shot of Austin Harrouff [Marin County Sheriff's Office]

Photo By: Mug shot of Graham Fisher [Sussex Police]

Luka Magnotta aka “The Butcher of Montreal”

Infamous Canadian killer Luka Magnotta is serving a life sentence connected to the 2012 death and dismemberment of Chinese international student Lin Jun.

According to authorities, Magnotta allegedly uploaded a video to the internet filmed while Jun was naked and tied to a bed. The video, reportedly titled “1 Lunatic 1 Icepick,” allegedly depicts Magnotta stabbing, beheading, mutilating, cannibalizing, and sexually violating Jun’s body in addition to feeding parts of Jun's body to a dog.

Magnotta allegedly also mailed pieces of Jun’s body to schools and police stations, and led Interpol on a multinational chase that ended with his arrest. [CrimeFeed]

Detlev Guenzel

Former German police officer Detlev Guenzel reportedly never denied killing and eating the penis of Polish-born Wojciech Stempniewicz, a man he allegedly met online. Instead, Guenzel allegedly said he did precisely what Stempniewicz asked him to do.

Authorities claim Guenzel and Stempniewicz met on a cannibal fetish website calling itself “the #1 site for exotic meat.” Guenzel allegedly said he told Stempniewicz he’d always wanted to kill and eat a man, and he reportedly said Stempniewicz told him, in turn, he’d always wanted to be killed and eaten.

From there, Guenzel allegedly said, they made one another’s fantasies come true in the ex-cop’s BDSM dungeon. Police said Guenzel videotaped himself dismembering Stempniewicz’s body.

Guenzel is serving a life sentence. He can reportedly apply for parole after 15 years. [CrimeFeed]

Jeffrey Dahmer aka the “Milwaukee Cannibal”

Convicted serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer is one of the most notorious alleged cannibals in crime history. Milwaukee resident Dahmer reportedly confessed to killing, raping, and dismembering 17 young men and boys, some of whom he allegedly admitted to cannibalizing parts of their bodies.

Upon arresting Dahmer in 1991, police reportedly found dismembered body parts all over his apartment.

In 1994, fellow inmate Christopher Scarver beat Dahmer to death in a prison bathroom. [CrimeFeed]

For more on Dahmer, watch the "Deadly Desires" episode of Investigation Discovery's "Most Evil" on ID GO now!

John Ortiz-Kehoe

According to Michigan police, on December 7, 1993, 18-year-old Rose Larner allegedly spent a night partying with her longtime pal Billy Brown, and John Ortiz-Kehoe, with whom she reportedly had an on-again, off-again romantic relationship.

Authorities claim the trio got high and took a shower together, after which Ortiz-Kehoe allegedly choked Larner with a cord and slit her throat with a knife. Police said Brown told them Ortiz-Kehoe chopped up Larner’s remains with a hatchet, and he helped dispose of them in a fire.

In addition, police said, Brown claimed Ortiz-Kehoe took a piece of Larner’s flesh from the flames and ate it on bread with mustard, “Just for the experience. Just to know.”

Ortiz-Kehoe reportedly received a life sentence without the possibility of parole for killing Larner. [CrimeFeed]

For more on this case, watch the "Night Angel" episode of Investigation Discovery's "Stolen Voices, Buried Secrets" on ID GO now!

Albert Fish aka the “Brooklyn Vampire”

Albert Fish reportedly died in the electric chair in 1936, one year after being convicted and sentenced to death for the kidnapping and murder of 10-year-old Grace Budd. Authorities allegedly suspected Fish's involvement in several other fatal sex crimes involving victims ranging in age from 2 to 17.

Of especially gruesome note regarding Grace’s death, Fish allegedly wrote a letter to her mother, detailing how he tortured the child and then ate her body. [CrimeFeed]

Anthony Morley

British model Anthony Morley reportedly first became famous in 1993 by winning the first Mr. Gay UK title. In May 2008, however, Morley became infamous for allegedly killing, chopping up, and eating the body of his lover, publishing honcho Damian Oldfield.

Authorities claim Morley killed Oldfield, cut off and cooked the dead man’s leg, and then wandered over to a kebab restaurant, splattered with blood, and asked someone to call the police.

In October 2008, a court reportedly sentenced Morley to life in prison. [The Guardian] [The Mirror]

For more on Anthony Morley, watch the "Murder With a Side of Guilt" episode of Investigation Discovery's "How (Not) to Kill Your Husband" on ID GO now!

Joe Metheny aka "The Cannibal"

Roadside barbecue stand proprietor and convicted serial killer Joseph Metheny allegedly came by his nickname “The Cannibal” after he allegedly told police he killed at least three women, ate pieces of their bodies, and mixed portions of their remains with hamburger meat he sold to customers.

While on trial, Metheny reportedly said, “I cut the meat up and put it in some Tupperware bowls then put it in a freezer. I opened up a little open-pit beef stand. I had real roast beef and pork sandwiches. They were very good. The human body taste was very similar to pork. If you mix it together no one can tell the difference.”

Prison officials reportedly found Metheny dead in his cell in 2017. [CrimeFeed]

Omaima Nelson

On Thanksgiving Day 1991, Egyptian-born model Omaima Nelson reportedly killed her allegedly abusive husband, Bill Nelson. Authorities said she stabbed him with scissors and hit him so hard with a clothing iron that it broke on impact.

Afterward, authorities claim Nelson butchered and castrated her spouse’s body, boiled his hands in oil to remove fingerprints, and kept his head in a freezer. Later, authorities reported, Nelson allegedly told a psychiatrist she cooked her husband’s ribs and ate them with barbecue sauce and remarked as she chewed, “It’s so sweet!”

After being convicted of killing her husband in 1993, Nelson allegedly retracted her story and insisted she didn’t actually eat him. She is serving a 27-year prison sentence. [CrimeFeed]

For more on this case, watch the "Devoured by Love" episode of Investigation Discovery's "Happily Never After" on ID GO now!

Austin Harrouff

According to The Palm Beach Post, 19-year-old Austin Harrouff allegedly attacked and killed John Stevens III, 59, and Michelle Mischon, 53, in 2016, in the garage of the couple’s home in Florida. The newspaper also reported that, when authorities came upon the scene, they alleged seeing Harrouff growling and chewing the flesh off Stevens’ face. Legal questions regarding Harrouff’s mental health are reported to have repeatedly postponed his trial to date. [Palm Beach Post]

Graham Fisher

According to The Mirror, UK resident Graham Fisher is serving 21 years in the high-security Broadmoor hospital for killing two women in 1998. Fisher allegedly cut flesh from the arm of one of his victims and ate it.

In 2019, The Mirror reported Fisher had been given an ironic job at Broadmoor, working in the prison’s kitchen as a cook. [The Mirror]