The murder of Tammy Jo Blanton shocked a small community in Indiana way back in 2019. The culprit was her own cannibal boyfriend who killed and mutilated her body. But he was not satisfied and decided to eat the victim's organs.
Law enforcement officers in Jefferson, Indiana, the police were treated to a crime worthy of Hannibal Lecter. They found the remains of Tammy Joe which has been dismembered and disemboweled while lying in a bloody bathtub.
The defiled corpse was covered using a camping tent. Investigators saw 25 stabs and the throat, mouth, lips, nose, chest, and fingers were struck by a blunt object that revealed badly-beaten remains. Last Wednesday, the prosecutor gave this gruesome picture of the victim's death at the hands of her boyfriend, as reported by News and Tribune.
The accused is Joseph Oberhansley, 38, who slaughtered the victim like a farm animal, said prosecutor Jeremy Mull. Overall, the victim's death went beyond gruesome or grisly. It was deplorable to slay and defile a corpse that way.
Oberhansley will be getting life with no parole related to charges of rape, mutilation, and breaking with entering. In 2014, he went the nine yards that were completed by snacking on the victim's corpse, according to the Independent.
A deal was struck by the prosecutors and defense that the death penalty will not be declared. That is, if the cannibal's defense strikes out the plea of insanity to make the deal stick.
According to Mull, the victim and the suspect were in a relationship and lived together under one roof at some point before he went to deathly extremes. She was brutally murdered on September 11, 2014.
He added that before she ended her relationship with Oberhansley, she decided to limit his access to her home.
One day before the victim was slain viciously, she told her acquaintances that she wants to start life anew away from her boyfriend. She revealed that her ex scared her and she felt threatened by him. She also insisted that she was going to her own home, not hide out at her friend's home. Even back then, the victim was already scared for her life, according to Courier Journal.
Tthe victim ran from her raging ex and tried to barricade in the bathroom and locked it. But she was not able to save herself when Oberhansley got through. The next few moments was terror, the results seen in her decrepit remains.
During a police interview with the cannibal killer, he answered questions about the final moments of the victim. He said that his girlfriend was not afraid and she was prepared for it. Mull tried to convey her last moments as acceptance she'll be defiled and chopped up or another grim end, confirmed Desert Sun.
During the trial, his mental fitness was questioned. At one point, Bart Betteau, one of the accused's attorneys painted this picture of the cannibal's sanity. He told the jury to hear what Mull did not tell them. He also mentioned there will be graphic photos and testimony too.
When the accused killed his ex and ripper her torso apart like meat, he ate it her heart as well. He added more grisly details that must have made the juries stomachs turn.