Writer hid body parts in cereal box

Jose Luis Calva is treated by paramedics after he was run over by a car while trying to escape police in Mexico City.

The aspiring horror novelist was arrested after police found the carved-up remains of his 30-year-old girlfriend, Alejandra Galeana, in his home. Picture: AP

By E Eduardo Castillo Mexico City

AN aspiring horror novelist was arrested after police discovered his girlfriend’s torso in his closet, a leg in the refrigerator and bones in a cereal box, the city prosecutor’s spokesman said.

Nearby they found the draft of a novel titled Cannibalistic Instincts, said the official, who spoke on customary condition of anonymity.

Jose Luis Calva told police he had boiled some of his girlfriend’s flesh but that he hadn’t eaten it, the spokesman said.

The official also confirmed other details released by the prosecutor’s office: body parts were spread throughout the apartment, and Calva is being investigated in the deaths of three women whose mutilated bodies had been found in and around the capital.

The prosecutor’s office said Calva tried to escape when officers entered his apartment, but was struck by a car and is not yet in a condition to give a formal statement to police.

Police had come to Calva’s apartment to investigate the disappearance of his girlfriend, Alejandra Galeana, a 30-year-old pharmacy clerk and single mother, according to the prosecutor’s office. Parts of her body were found in a closet, a cereal box and a refrigerator.

Calva also is being investigated in the mutilation killings of an unidentified prostitute in April and an ex-girlfriend, Veronica Martinez — also a single mother and pharmacy worker — whose dismembered body was found in 2004, the office said.

After his arrest was shown on television, Ms Martinez’s mother went to police saying Calva had also been her daughter’s boyfriend, and showed officers a picture of them together.

Her daughter’s body was found chopped to pieces on the city’s outskirts, the prosecutor’s office said.

Calva’s Neighbour Fermin Cruz, 41, said he “seemed ill-humoured at times”, adding, “one time he slammed the door on me”.