Tyree Smith, from Bridgeport, Connecticut, killed a homeless man and then ate his brain and eyeballs. Ten years after being committed to a state psychiatric hospital for 60, he has been released.
A man who killed and ate a man has been released back into public life after ten years.
Tyree Smith, from Bridgeport, Connecticut, killed a homeless man and then ate his brain and eyeballs according to officials.
The horrific case made headline news, with Smith found not guilty of murder by reason of insanity after a July 2013 trial.
In lieu of a stint behind bars, Smith was ordered committed to a state psychiatric hospital for 60 years.
But now, ten years after the grim incident, the state Psychiatric Security Review Board said Smith was ready to be transitioned back into the community.
Smith has been released from the facility, Connecticut’s most secure, as of writing.
He will be living in a Waterbury group home, and is not allowed to associate with anyone involved in criminal activity.
The board stated in its report: “Tyree Smith is an individual with a psychiatric illness requiring care, custody and treatment.
“Since his last hearing Tyree Smith has continued to demonstrate clinical stability.
“Mr. Smith is medication compliant, actively engaged in all recommended forms of treatment, and has been symptom-free for many years.”
During the trial, Smith’s cousin Nicole Rabb claimed he arrived at her Connecticut home in December 2011, talking about Greek gods and ruminating about needing to go out and get blood.
When she saw him the next evening she noticed what appeared to be specks of blood on his pants and that he was carrying chopsticks and a bloody ax.
Smith then allegedly told Rabb he killed a man and ate his brains in the Lakeview Cemetery while drinking sake, and grimly warned he intended to eat more people.
A month later, police found Angel Gonzalez's mutilated body in the vacant apartment on Brooks Street in Bridgeport where Smith had lived as a child.
Police later recovered the bloody ax and an empty bottle of sake in a stream bed near the Boston Avenue cemetery.
The defense's case rested on the testimony of Yale University psychiatrist Dr. Reena Kapoor, who testified that Smith had kept his lust for human flesh after his arrest, even offering to eat her.
Kapoor claimed Smith suffered from psychotic incidents since childhood and heard voices that told him to kill people.
She then said the voices ordered Smith to eat the victim's brain so they would get a better understanding of human behavior and the eyes so that they could see into the "spirit realm."
Kapoor added that Smith went to Subway after eating the man's body parts.
The report on Smith’s release said: “He denied experiencing cravings but stated that if they were to arise, he would reach out to his hospital and community supports and providers.”
I mean that's the whole point of the insanity plea. He didn't do it for greed or for evil. He had a severe chemical imbalance that they've been able to treat and now he is once more socially viable.
60 years of prison would be to punish somebody for doing something that they knew was wrong, or depending on your world views to make sure that he stays incarcerated for public safety.
They didn't give him 60 years in the funny farm to make him think about what he did. That's the maximum amount of time he was supposed to spend in there if he didn't get it sorted out.
That said, he would be kind of nice if we had a public health system that could check up on this guy once every 30 60 days or so, Make sure he doesn't fall off the wagon on his medication.
We probably need people with that serious of medication problem to be checked up on for the rest of their lives. He falls through the cracks really bad s*** happens.
Good question. I made my comment hastily, without taking time to think.
I’d have to know more about the judges rationale. Was the plan to keep him out of society for sixty years, or was the original intent actually to help and rehabilitate him?
I let my revulsion carry me away. If he’s cured, then letting him rot in jail wouldn’t help anyone.
He's not cured, he's being treated. And he's not just being released to the generap public, he's still going to be living in a group home, with managed care and accountability.