Officials: Harford County man kills roommate, eats his body parts. Kenyan Alexander Kinyua arrested; Head, hands found in his family home.
JOPPATOWNE, Md. –Â A former Morgan State University student admitted to dismembering his roommate and eating some of his body parts, the Harford County Sheriff’s Office said Thursday.
According to charging documents, Alexander Kinyua, 21, killed his roommate, Kujoe Bonsafo Agyei-Kodie, 37, who was a native of Ghana, with a knife and then ate his heart and part of his brain.
Kinyua is charged with first-degree murder and first- and second-degree assault.
Investigators said the magnitude of what happened to the victim transcends just about any other violent crime they’ve seen. Detectives said Kinyua expressed no reason or remorse for his behavior.
Kinyua, an engineering student at Morgan State, was kicked out of the school about two weeks ago.
Police said he moved back into his family’s home in the 500 block of Terrapin Terrace in Joppatowne, where Agyei-Kodie had been renting a room. Officials said the living arrangement turned horrific within a week.
Detectives said Agyei-Kodie had left to go jogging about a week ago without any of his personal effects, and had not been seen since. The Kinyuas reported him missing on May 25.
A few days later, police got a call from the suspect’s father about a gruesome discovery in his basement.
“Specifically, a human head and two human hands in two tins,” said Harford County Sheriff Jesse Bane.
Police said the family confronted Kinyua, who denied that they were human and said they were animal remains. Deputies executed a search and seizure warrant at the home on Wednesday, where they discovered the remains.
Charging documents said Kinyua eventually confessed to killing Agyei-Kodie, eating some of his body parts and dividing the rest of the remains between his basement and a Dumpster about a mile away from the home.
Sheriff’s investigators said it was one of the most grisly cases they’ve seen in a while and said they hope the FBI can shed some light on Kinyua’s motive.
Psychiatrist: Behavior lends to history of mental illness, drug abuse
Kinyua had experienced major upheaval in recent weeks. Officials at Morgan State said he was a third-year student in good standing until May 19, when court records show he was arrested on accusations that he assaulted someone inside his dorm room. He immediately left school and moved back home.
“It’s possible that the trauma of being kicked out of the school has caused some kind of psychological reaction,” said psychiatrist Dr. Mahmood Jahromi, who added that grisly crimes like that don’t occur in a vacuum.
He said there is typically a long history of mental health issues, antisocial behavior or drug use.
“Killing someone and then reportedly cooking the body parts, seasoning it and eating it — the magnitude of the problem even goes beyond the logical defect,” Jahromi said.
Police said the Kinyua family’s accounts of Agyei-Kodie’s disappearance do not match up, so they are looking at the possibility that others may have participated in the crime or helped cover it up.
Kinyua remains at the Harford County Detention Center, where bail was denied.
Meanwhile, lifelong Joppatowne resident Melinda Kraft told 11 News she had never seen her neighbor until his face appeared on a missing person flier.
“It’s not just me. Nobody in this neighborhood has seen him. It’s kind of bizarre. I’ve seen everybody in this neighborhood, but I’ve never seen him,” Kraft said.
She said she will remain on edge, wondering what triggered such a crime in her neighborhood.
“I’m packing my bags and staying with my parents. Even with two dogs, I don’t feel safe,” she said.
