Real Life Hannibal: Indiana Man Cooks And Eats Girlfriend’s Brains

Convicted felon Joseph Oberhansley from Indiana, 33, is currently being held without bond for residential entry, abuse of a corpse and murder charges. Reports indicate that he killed his girlfriend Tammy Jo Blanton, and then cooked and ate parts of her body.

Huffington Post reports that on September 11, Blanton called the Jeffersonville police to report that Oberhansley was attempting to break into her home. The police came and sent Oberhansley away. The next day, however, the police again received a call from one of Blanton’s co-workers saying that she didn’t show up at work.

The police arrived at Blanton’s home, and Oberhansley opened the door telling the authorities that his girlfriend was not at home and that he did not know where she was. The officers noticed that Oberhansley had a fresh injury on his hand and took control of him. A folding knife was found inside his back pocket.

When the authorities searched Blanton’s home, they found that the back door had been broken through, and there were blood stains all over. Blanton’s body was eventually discovered in the bathtub covered with a tarp.

When Oberhansley was initially interviewed, he denied knowing that his girlfriend was dead, but confessed his crime later on. The police statement containing his confession said that he broke into Blanton’s home and killed her.

“He confessed that he had broken into the back door of the home and also broke into the bathroom where Blanton had locked herself inside. He struck Blanton several times with a knife, causing her death. He also admitted to mutilating her body, using a jigsaw to cup open her skull, remove a portion of her brain and eating it raw. He further admitted to cooking a section of her brain and eating it.”

The coroner who examined Blanton’s body said that she suffered injuries to the chest, neck, face, and head. A section of her skull was also removed, with a large portion missing. Her heart was removed as well, according to HLN.

When investigators visited Blanton’s home, they found a plate with blood and skull bone in the kitchen. There was also bloody tongs on top of the stove. The probable cause statement further details the scene.

“The cooking surface of the skillet was blacked with a void in the middle where the cooked material had been removed.”

Oberhansley has a long history of violence. In 2000, he was convicted of attempted murder and manslaughter for murdering his then-girlfriend Sabrina Elder, and wounding her mother. The incident happened just a few days after Elder gave birth to her child with Oberhansley. He got out of prison on parole in 2012, but just a year later, he was already in trouble for choking a person in a bar. Then again, a few months ago, he was arrested for erratic driving that caused a police chase.

Blanton was the one who paid for Oberhansley’s bond of $1,000 and said that she was his fiancée.

On Monday, Oberhansley appeared in court and reverted his confession, saying that he did not kill Blanton, and he did not know what the judge was saying. He also said that his name is Zeus Brown.

[Images via Liberty Voice / USA Today]