Mexico's alleged cannibal killer found dead

MEXICO CITY -- A murder suspect dubbed "The Cannibal" was found dead in his prison cell of an apparent suicide Tuesday, two months after police found cooked and seasoned bits of his girlfriend's corpse on a fork and plate in his apartment.

Jose Luis Calva, a self-proclaimed poet and dramatist suspected in at least three murders, was found hanging from his belt in his Mexico City jail cell Tuesday morning, the city department of corrections said in a statement.

The man routinely referred to as "The Cannibal" by Mexican news media had been working on a book about himself in prison, tentatively titled "The Cannibal Poet." Those close to him said he did not appear suicidal.

"He didn't seem to have suicidal tendencies," said lawyer Moises Humberto Guerrero Calderon, a member of his defense team. "He was very enthused about [the book] idea. That was sort of what gave him a reason to live."

Relatives told local news media that Calva had reported receiving threats from other inmates, who were allegedly attempting to extort money from him. Calva had a cell to himself, but still apparently had some contact with other inmates.

However, the corrections department denied Calva had been threatened or beaten by other inmates. It said he could not have been murdered because he had reinforced his locked cell door with wire and shoelaces tied from the inside.

Investigation underway

Mexico City officials said they were investigating how he got the belt and apparently was able to commit suicide when he was supposed to be under round-the-clock observation.

"Everything indicates it was suicide, but it is better to conduct a good investigation," Juan Garcia Ochoa, the city's assistant interior secretary whose agency oversees prisons, told radio station Formato 21.

Calva told prosecutors after his arrest Oct. 8 that he was practically abandoned by his mother, his father died when he was 2, and that at about age 7 he was raped by a male friend of his brother.

In interviews before his death, Calva had expressed remorse for the death of girlfriend Alejandra Galeana, 32.

He acknowledged killing her and cutting up her body after a violent drug-and-alcohol-fueled argument, but denied he ate her flesh. He claimed he cooked the flesh to feed it to dogs as a means of getting rid of the corpse. But authorities said they doubt that story, noting he carefully cleaned, cooked and seasoned the flesh.

There was no immediate explanation for why Calva included "cannibal" in the title of his apparently autobiographical book, but those who knew him described Calva as a charismatic, pathological liar who sometimes posed as a playwright, television personality, reporter, novelist and actor. He had mentioned cannibalism in his writing before the crime.

Soledad Garavito, the mother of Galeana, described his death as divine retribution.

"I don't wish death on anybody, but I feel this was divine justice," Garavito said. "I do not take pleasure in this man's death, but I have seen there is a God and that he is with me."

Calva was charged with Galeana's murder and abusing a corpse. Prosecutors said they also had evidence linking him to the death of another girlfriend whose dismembered body was found in cardboard boxes in 2004, as well as a female acquaintance whose chopped-up remains were found in a suitcase earlier this year. All the victims had been strangled.

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Associated Press writer Jessica Bernstein-Wax contributed to this report from Mexico City.