Suspected cannibal in psychiatric care

A man suspected of murdering a fellow homeless person and eating his entrails is in psychiatric care at a special facility, an official said today.

A 19-year-old German man, identified only as Robert A, was arrested on Tuesday at a Vienna apartment used as sleeping quarters by the homeless.

He is suspected of cracking the victim’s skull using a 22-pound dumbbell and slicing open his body with a switchblade.

Officials have confirmed that police found a plate of entrails in the apartment but have yet to determine whether the suspect ate parts of his alleged victim, identified only as 49-year-old Josef S.

An analysis of DNA samples taken from both the crime scene and the suspect, who had blood marks around his mouth when he was taken into custody, is under way.

Gerhard Jarosch, a spokesman for the Vienna public prosecutor’s office, said a judge met with the suspect on Thursday and decided to have him transferred from the Vienna court to the facility, located in Goellersdorf, Lower Austria.

It was unclear how long he would remain there, Jarosch said.

He was being kept in a solitary cell, according to Austrian broadcaster ORF.