2y ago

Brain-eating cannibal back in public life after 10 years

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.”

189 comments

Some of y’all really need to figure out the difference between punishment and rehabilitation…
And which one actually works.
Stop stroking your hate boners and start advocating for real solutions. You don’t fix pain with more pain. All that does is exacerbate the cycle.
- It's not about pain, at least not for me. If he was in the most comfortable psych hospital in the world, where they fluffed his pillows and shined his shoes, if he ate better and slept better than I do, that would be fine. But releasing him?
  
  I mean, he's going to a group home. He's likely going to be carefully managed for the rest of his life. This is more of a reduced level of monitoring.
  
  The problem is we don't care enough to have psych facilities like that. Which is why we have an entire wing of the emergency department at my hospital dedicated to holding people who are doing nothing but waiting for a bed at one of the trash facilities we actually do bother to provide. No real treatment in the emergency department except meds, but also not safe enough to send them home. Scary that there's somebody now who needs the bed in that facility more than this guy does.
  I'll say I'm proud of this country the day we provide good, comfortable lifelong treatment facilities for people like this, alongside quality rest homes for our elderly. We have the resources to do it, and the fact that we don't is an absolute indictment of our society.
- The problem is our justice system only focuses on the punishment part. Rehabilitation is either non-existent for most inmates or completely inadequate. The likelihood of this man being mentally stable enough to be safely reintegrated into public life is extremely small.
  
  He didn't go to prison though, he went to a pysch ward, seems like exactly the kind of thing you'd be advocating for.
  
  So the fault lies with the inadequacy of the justice and healthcare system. But my point still stands - simply locking someone away does nothing to actually help.
  
  maybe not... a high profile case like this may well have attracted the attention of more competent psychiatrists, or motivated his care team/state to seek it out. it also seems possible to me that his psychosis was very treatable with the right meds, but that he had not been able to access that care previously.
  so yeah. mental health care is health care, and in this case it's important not only to the well-being of Mr. Smith but to his community as well. i agree with you that, for the american "justice" system, most cases are treated as it punishment is the correct response.
- The US justice system unfortunately runs on emotion and punishment rather than rehabilitation, thanks in no small part to the whole privatized prison system. The average American would rather see someone suffer than get the help they need. This is a particularly strong mindset ironically among the conservative religious, but there are plenty of liberals who think that way too. This country needs reform on so many systems...
- what exactly is the solution to a fucking murdering cannibal?
  
  Serious mental health treatment, rehabilitation, and medication. Extensive monitoring by mental health professionals, routine check-ins… Basically what they’ve done.
  I’m not saying just release the dude, wash their hands of him, and say “good luck”…
  
  Did he fuck him too?
- He ended someone’s life. That alone should remove him from society forever.
  Now his entire release hinges on him being compliant with his meds to not end someone else’s life.
- If this comment was on Reddit you'd be downvotes to hell.
  
  That’s crazy, but it’s not
- What are "real" solutions, in your opinion? What do you feel should be done for the victims and their loved ones and family?
  
  Nothing can really be done for them. Locking him up won’t do anything for them, either. One could argue for some form of restitution, but then you’d have to ask if they even want anything from the guy.
  The real solutions are adequate mental healthcare and access to medication, as well as routine monitoring and check-ins. All following an extensive inpatient treatment and rehabilitation program… So, basically what they’ve done here. Fighting pain with more pain doesn’t do anyone good. It’s entirely reactionary. Locking someone up for life does not help anyone.
  Helping the person get the treatment they so desperately need does.
- I don't want to live near a city that a fucking psychotic brain eating killer is free to walk the streets! That's absolute madness
  
  You definitely do already and just don't know it.
  
  Evidently you don’t understand the prevalence and severity of mental health issues, cause this could happen anywhere…
  Unfortunately our healthcare system is so fucked up, and society is full of people like you that would rather hurt people than help them, that this sort of thing is only exacerbated.
  Stop being part of the problem. Be part of the solution.
- In this issue I refuse to be liberal. If your mental illness causes you to kill and eat people, you don't get to rejoin society. If I was the mentally ill cannibal, I would never want to be out. Same thing happened up here in Canada, we have cannibals and terrorists running around free cause they're "rehabilitated" and the rest of us? Fuck us and our safety
  
  Well then it’s a good thing you don’t make the rules
  
  Same thing happened up here in Canada
  And look at all the crime he's committed. Oops, wait, he hasn't.
- Naw this dude is damaged goods. What happens when they cut his meds or if he stops taking it? Other peoples brains gonna be looking very tasty in that group home.
  No, this a death penalty thing and that's a mercy. You kill a guy and eat his brains there's no coming back, just kill the bastard cheaply and use the resources to rehabilitate someone that can readjust like a drug user.
  Planets fucking full anyways to keep a cannibal alive tbh. Make room for good people.
  
  Technically cannibals would be one solution to a full planet.
  
  So, resolve a murder with more murder… Yeah, that’s a real great solution
  
  Planets fucking full anyways
  Piss off with this Malthusian bullshit, will you?
- I feel like there's a lot of steps between rehabilitating a chronic shoplifter and a guy who killed and consumed a guy's brain. Even if someone is rehabilitated should they escape punishment? Should we not punish people for what they do to others?
  Sometimes the lessons that stay with you longest are learned through pain. Sometimes you need to feel hurt to understand it.
  
  If the guy was truly determined by actual professionals (aka: not you) to be fit to return to society, then what’s the issue?
  What gain does anyone get from unnecessarily punishing him longer? It’s just a waste of time and resources to inflict pain on an individual because people can’t accept that someone can change.
  Punishment does very little in the way of teaching a lesson. Do some actual research.
  Edit: furthermore, this was an incident of mental illness and a severe psychological break. You can’t punish that out of someone. That makes no sense. This man needed serious help, got it, and has been compliant with his treatment.
  
  sadfasfasdf
He ate a man’s brains and eye balls.
Eww gross.
He went to subway after eating the man’s body parts.
EWWWWW! GROSS!
- We have crab juice or mountain dew
- Yeah this is one where I don’t think you should ever get out. Ain’t worth it.
  If it’s dependent on him being compliant with meds and doesn’t have someone constantly ensuring he’s on them, it isn’t gonna end well. What happens when he just decides he’s fine and doesn’t need them anymore?
  
  Then the group home that administers his medication reports it?
The American punitive view vs. a rehabilitative one is terrifyingly real in these comments. It was an awful awful thing that happened, and he should be monitored the rest of his life, but if it is determined by medical professionals (a.k.a. not you) then he deserves to lead a full life, and have the opportunity to contribute to a society that he caused harm too instead of being a cost to taxpayers everywhere for the rest of his life, while he is medicated and able to rejoin society, that harms everyone even more in the long run.
This man should have had the health supports he needed before this ever happened, likely something exacerbated by the US medical system.
Also to dispel some common myths:
Due to legal fees, it costs significantly MORE to sentence someone to death in the US (sidenote, also one of the few 1st world countries still conducting the backwards barbaric practice), than the cost of them continuing to serve life in prison; it is not the "cheap" option.
Insanity pleas on average 1) yield longer sentences in mental facilities than similar cases where there was no insanity plea, b) if not successful in getting an insanity sentence yield longer jail sentences on average. From a criminal judicial standpoint, there is very rarely any advantage to pleading insanity, and it's even rarer still that someone actually gets it when they were not in fact insane. The testing, and level of evidence needed far exceeds what you can gather from a casual read and comment online. It is a hugely rare thing legally, we just tend to hear about them as they're represented in the media at disproportionate rates compared to standard trials.
To all my American friends, not shitting on you, you're a wonderful country, of largely wonderful people, but with some bad bad bad policies that I hope will improve in coming years.
Love,
Your hat.
- yield longer sentences in mental facilities than similar cases where there was no insanity plea
  Is that including the actual length of the sentence rather than the title amount which is reduced later? Seems like 60 years to 10 years is a much larger reduction than is usual for prison sentences.
  
  I'm not 100% sure, that's a good point, I'll look into this. I agree in this case is does seem that way, but be careful for falling prey to making conclusions on a sample size of 1, there are outliers in any data sample. To be sure there are without doubt cases where the insanity plea yield shorter sentences, but from my education on the topic it's always been my understanding that this is the case on average (to be clear, this isn't through internet articles or word of mouth on Facebook, this was from multiple sociology and criminal psychology courses taught by PHd educated individuals. As a disclaimer while I have a Masters in Psychology and have done original research in political psychology, my main field is not criminal psychology specifically).
  I looked for a solid while and couldn't verify the claim of my past professors, I found one study in New Zealand contradicting this claim specifically saying that on average NGRI (not guilty by reason of insanity cases) served shorter sentences (note the wording of "served" referring to how much time they actually served, rather than just the sentence as you were asking about initially) on average in murder cases compared to other individuals with serious mental illness that did not receive NGRI sentences. However they take this as evidence (since it's based on actual time served, rather than the initial sentence), that murder cases treated as NGRI are a positive vs. putting these same individuals in prison given the taxpayer pays for them to be incarcerated for a shorter period of time, AND alongside this results in a lower likelihood of future reoffending upon release. Some things I found across studies was 1) there is heavy racial and gender bias present in when NGRI pleas are granted, 2) recidivism rates are generally lower in NGRI cases upon release.
  Thanks for raising this point, I learned some things!
  Links below:
  https://sci-hub.se/10.1002/cbm.2120
  https://sci-hub.se/10.1016/j.fsiml.2020.100033
  
  I believe that is the case where the defendant was found guilty, unlike here. In this case, the person was found not guilty of murder, yet still was held for 10 years.
- The unfortunate reality is our system doesn't typically rehabilitate anyone. So, it's understandable that people are incredulous. I wish things would change. Never seems to be much political interest in how prisoners are treated.
- Regular people thinking they know more than experts + internet forums. Name a more iconic duo.
- Justice is not only about rehabilitation, a punitive component serves the common good.
  That may sound barbaric, but consider an alternative where prisoners are released as soon as they are rehabilitated (i.e. when it is clear that they no longer pose a threat to society):
  A man is killed by a drunk driver. The driver is fully repentant and it is very quickly clear to all that they will never drink again, much less drink and drive. The driver is released as soon as this is clear.
  The man's son is horrified that the driver was punished so lightly. He kills the driver in revenge. But it is clear this will never happen again, you can only lose your father to drunk driving once. The killer is soon released.
  The driver's son is horrified that his father's killer was punished so lightly. Since nobody else will do anything, he kills his father's killer in revenge. Clearly he can never do this again ...
  See the problem? Judicial punishment isn't about some vague societal bloodlust, it's an intercession that prevents unsatisfied victims from taking matters into their own hands and starting an endless vendetta.
  
  This is the most idiotic whataboutism I've ever seen. You know there are other countries that focus on rehabilitation, countries that do not have repeat offenders like we do, right? Stop justifying a clearly broken system with theoretical nonsense, especially when that nonsense is already disproven elsewhere.
  
  All my data points relied on actually data and trends rather than needing a highly unlikely hypothetical. Furthermore, the only issue with your hypothetical is the continuing view of the killers being a retributive one as well, they, and anyone with a retributive view on crime is the problem. The goal of our justice system is not (at least in most of the developed world), the US excepted and should not be to make another human suffer until, paraphrasing your own words, the original victim is satisfied.
The onion article writes itself
"Dude who ate someone's brain is out in the streets after saying 'I won't do it again' enough times"
Back at the buffet
- I am literally at tears of laughter.
If the antipsychotics are working, then fine. This dude was truly cracked at the time to both admit it to people and offer to eat his doctors.
Taking the story at face value, imagine how horrible you'd feel knowing what you'd done. I really hope they are doing better now but fuck having those memories.
- What nobody ever cares about are the victims. I would rather worry about how his victims poor family feels knowing he got away with it and is free, while their relative is dead and eaten
  
  Well now I'm confused cuz I thought Lemmy didn't want a vindictive criminal justice system? If he caused problems by being unwell and is now well after treatment, why should he continue to be punished by being held against his will?
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."
"Disassembly reveals useful pathways"...
Any stats on the recidivism rate for the mentally ill who are treated and cleared by the Psychiatric Security Review Board, versus convicts who serve conventional terms?
- Recidivism for offenders that simply serve a prison sentence as opposed to getting actual treatment is much, much higher.
  I’m not sure of the exact stats in this situation, but I know domestic abusers that simply go to prison are some ~230% (give or take a couple tens, I can’t remember off the top of my head) more likely to reoffend than those who are actually treated.
  Again, idk the stats for this case, but you will find that those who are simply punished rather than treated have higher recidivism rates across the board.
How do you casually ask to eat your therapist? 🙃
- Mind if I eat you real quick by the way?
- "You know... you don't have to attend that lunchtime meeting with your boss..."
Everyone can change
- Not in my experience it ain't . Once an asshole always an asshole. That shits in your DNA. The most they do is go sociopathic and pretend they changed but they always crack.
  
  If you have depression and tried to commit suicide, will you always end up depressed and try to end your life?
  Or is there more to it all?
  Mental illness is not that straightforward.
  
  You know who else thought certain negative personality traits were genetic?
  
  Tell me you know nothing about mental health without saying it
i hope the guy is truly rehabilitated and is getting the ongoing treatment he needs.
but lets be honest, id rather he not live on my street
Dude should have never been released simply because we can't ever be sure he'll take his medication or adhere to treatment in the future. At some point, the safety of an individual and the public takes priority over turning them loose on the streets.
Anyone else think the Sake part of the story is really weird too? Like, is that the preferred pairing with human flesh? Who makes that recommendation? A cannibal sommelier?
- Thats the weird part? Not Subway?
  
  Yeah that's a little weird too. A discerning cannibal would've chosen Potbelly.
never let a wendigo out once you have it caged
Fucking bizzare! Who the fuck is down voting this post ?
- I was tempted to. I always hate these posts. If he's healthy and doing well and observed, I'm glad he's out. Hopefully he benefits society.
  
  I hope ten years worth of data lets some researcher figure out what went wrong or helps doctors find some way to help people like this.
- Tyree Smith
  
  Hey, the man ended up here and not reddit. Give him a chance, for John.
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.
So he's gonna be added to a secret list of people who basically get their (mandated) medication free, right? People's financial situation tend to worsen at times. 😐
- So he's gonna be added to a secret list of people who basically get their (mandated) medication free, right?
  I would hope so.
- Most likely he's on Medicaid. He's going to a group home on a monitoring program and missing doses because he couldn't afford them would be a probation violation. I don't know the exact details, but I'm willing to bet that's how they have it structured.
I feel like threads like this also make a good case that people really, REALLY, don't understand psychosis. Dude doesn't just hear a whisper in his brain and star murdering. Those voices build and build and build until you literally can't hear yourself think. Then you break, your mind isn't your own, the voices have entirely drowned you out and you're tired because they haven't let you sleep in days and you've been off doing who the hell knows because you aren't even in control anymore.
It's a shame there is no spirit realm, he killed these men in vain... so senseless.
sentenced to 60 years
out in 10
- It's like doctors might know more about clinical psychology than a judge...
  
  It's almost as if these doctors don't have the foresight to see that in a couple of months he'll end another life
- Yes, this is the most important and most frightening in the story.
Seems like a good call.
Jesus fucking Christ....kill one person "sane" and it's life but murder mutilation like a death metal album = insanity (which is curable‽) and you're out in ten years. This country is fucked.
I’m… glad I don’t live in Connecticut. Put this guy on a no-fly list please.
How long before he recommits this crime. 10 years that bullshit.
- Given the shitshow that is American healthcare, sooner. Society will fail him, he will commit another crime, everyone will be aghast at his release, and people will feel vindicated for doubting him. I’ve watched this movie before, it ends with US healthcare becoming even worse.
- No risk of him repeating the crime unless that guy had two brains and four eyes.
  
  Or maybe he got better and they grew back.
  Boy, how much would that suck, then some guy comes and eats your brain and eyes AGAIN. I bet he'd be super pissed.
He was sentenced to sixty years in a psychiatric facility, but was cured in ten? Great. Put him in prison for the remaining fifty.
- 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.
  
  Presumably he will be on parole or probation or something, so he will be checking in.
- Why? For punishment?
  
  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.
  
  Absolutely.
He ate someone’s brain and eyeballs. He will never be ready to be a part of society. Ever.
- Yes, let’s listen to you, someone who most likely has no professional experience in the field of psychology, instead of a bunch of people who did study for it.
  
  He can live next to you
- I live near waterbury, if I see this freak I'm walking the opposite way

189 comments