Maryland man accused of cannibalism enters plea

By Brian White, Associated Press

Monday, Aug. 19, 2013 | 9:35 a.m.

BEL AIR, Md. — A former Maryland college student who told authorities he killed a man and ate his heart and parts of his brain pleaded guilty but not criminally responsible Monday.

Alex Kinyua, 22, entered the plea to first-degree murder in the death of 37-year-old Kujoe Bonsafo Agyei-Kodie last year. The former Morgan State University student spoke softly as he responded to questions from the judge, saying he had agreed to the plea and medications he had been taking were helping him. He declined an opportunity to address the court.

Judge Stephen Waldron said he had concerns about agreeing to the plea, but had to accept determinations by psychiatrists for the defense and prosecution that Kinyua could not be held criminally responsible. He expressed condolences to family and friends of the Agyei-Kodie.

"My heart breaks for you," Waldron said. "I am very, very sorry."

Kinyua has been held at the state's maximum-security psychiatric hospital and returned there after the hearing.

Kinyua, a U.S. citizen originally from Kenya, admitted using a knife to kill and carve up Agyei-Kodie before eating his organs, the Harford County Sheriff's Office said when Kinyua was arrested last year. Agyei-Kodie, a native of Ghana, had been staying with the Kinyua family for about six weeks at their townhouse in a Baltimore suburb when he disappeared in May 2012. His body was found four days later.

Authorities say Kinyua ranted about "human sacrifices" on Facebook before the slaying.

In a separate case, Kinyua pleaded guilty but not criminally responsible in a baseball bat attack at Morgan State days before the killing of Agyei-Kodie. The man injured in that attack is suing the university, accusing it of ignoring signs that Kinyua was violent.

Kinyua's father is a physics professor at Morgan State.