BRIDGEPORT, Conn. -- Police and U.S. Marshals in Florida have taken a former Connecticut resident into custody on charges that he used an ax to kill a man, then ate a portion of his victim's brain and one of his eyeballs.
Tyree Lincoln Smith, 35, whose last known address was Bridgeport, is charged with killing Angel Gonzalez, whose decomposed body was found on the third floor of an abandoned building in Bridgeport on Jan. 20.
Gonzalez suffered significant wounds to his face and head, and there was blood spattered on a nearby wall, police said.
Smith's cousin, Nicole Rabb, told police on Jan. 23 that in mid-December her cousin arrived at her house and told her he had "to get blood on his hands" and was going to a park and to his former home, according to the warrant for Smith's arrest.
Rabb told Detective Harold Dimbo and Sgt. Giselle Doszpoj that Smith kept talking about Greek gods and called her "Athena."
At about 11 p.m. that same night, Rabb told the detectives, Smith returned to her house and banged on the door. She said she did not let him in.
The next day, Dec. 16, Smith went back to her house and Rabb said she saw that Smith had blood on his pants and his hands, and on an ax he carried. Smith told his cousin he wanted to take a bath, according to the warrant.
Rabb said Smith told her he went to an abandoned building and went to sleep on the second-floor porch. She said Smith told her a Hispanic man woke him up and invited him into the third floor. Gonzalez told Smith that he did not need to sleep on the porch and invited him in from the cold.
Smith told her he began to beat the man with the ax a short time later, according to the warrant.
"Tyree told (Rabb) the blows to (Gonzalez's) head were so severe that he was able to remove an eye from the man's head along with pieces of brain matter and a piece of his skull," the warrant says.
Smith put the items in a bag, then walked to Lakeview Cemetery, where Rabb's brother is buried. "At the cemetery he said he ate the eyeball, which tasted like an oyster, and the brain matter," according to the warrant.
Rabb told detectives she called Smith's mother about what she had seen. Smith's mother, Cheryl Smith, told Rabb that she had called police and urged them to check the abandoned building "because her son Tyree has mental issues and is trespassing at this property and squatting on the third floor."
Rabb then helped the detectives call Tyree Smith in Florida via cellphone. Smith said he was living in Lynn Haven, Fla., admitted being at the address of the abandoned building in Bridgeport, admitting seeing the body and said there were no eyes in it. He said he did not touch it, though. Smith admitted to the detectives that when his mother asked him if he killed the man, he said he did.
Police determined that Smith caught a Greyhound bus for Florida on Friday and arrived in Lynn Haven on Monday. Bridgeport police obtained the warrant for Smith's arrest Tuesday and conveyed the information to Lynn Haven police and the U.S. Marshals, who took Smith into custody Tuesday night.
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