New jail paperwork present that Tyree Smith, who has been dubbed the “Connecticut Cannibal,” exhibited violent conduct behind bars and was a “serious threat to life” in jail earlier than he was granted launch, in response to a information report.
Smith confessed to the 2011 killing of a homeless man, Angel Gonzalez, in Connecticut, and he admitted to consuming the sufferer’s physique components in a cemetery.
In 2013, a three-judge panel discovered Smith not responsible by purpose of madness within the dying of Gonzalez.
Nevertheless, he was dedicated to Connecticut Valley Hospital for 60 years.
Smith was granted a conditional launch by the Nutmeg State’s Psychiatric Safety Evaluate Board in February 2025, which permits him to depart Connecticut Valley Hospital in Middletown.
Nevertheless, Smith will stay below supervision and can proceed to obtain psychological well being companies, in response to WTNH.
For months, Smith has been staying full-time at a group facility with strict circumstances, therapy and around-the-clock supervision, CBS Information reported after the discharge from the hospital was granted.
Smith’s physician stated the cannibal killer has been rehabilitated and is taking medicines to assist with psychosis and voices in his head, WTNH reported.
“To quote the director there, he is a joy. He is considered a support to the other people there,” forensic psychiatrist Caren Teitelbaum stated.
“Once he was stable, he was a really calming presence for other patients.”
“He has maintained clinical stability. Adhered to the medications and continued to engage in group and substance abuse treatment,” Teitelbaum added.
“He also denied visual hallucinations and a desire to harm others or himself.”
Nevertheless, new jail paperwork obtained by WTNH from the Connecticut Division of Correction counsel in any other case.
The paperwork, which the outlet described as revealing a extra violent and darker aspect of Smith, define a number of altercations he had with different inmates whereas serving a portion of his sentence.
In April 2013, the report exhibits, Smith was held on the Garner Correctional Facility when he was first charged with homicide, the place his anger appeared with no warning, and a battle came about contained in the jail, WTNH reported.
Smith needed to be separated from the remainder of the jail inhabitants and admitted to an officer that the opposite inmate had “talked trash to him,” so Smith hit him within the face and shoved him to floor, in response to the report, which famous that the inmate had not fought again.
Talitha Frazier, Gonzalez’s sister-in-law, informed WTNH that the battle was extra proof that Smith was unhinged and a menace to society.
“It angers me, and it shocks me, because the whole time you’re in jail, you’re pleading insanity but yet you’re still doing something violent to another person,” Frazier informed the outlet.
Authorities decided that Smith was too harmful to return to the final inmate inhabitants following the brawl.
Because of this, Smith was positioned into segregation, and his file was stamped with a warning saying, “The inmate’s presence poses a serious threat to life, property, other inmates, or facility security.”
In January 2012, a month after he had been hacked to dying, Gonzalez’s mutilated physique was present in a vacant house in Bridgeport, Connecticut, 65 miles northeast of New York Metropolis, the Related Press reported.
Certainly one of Smith’s cousins, Nicole Rabb, testified that Smith had informed her he had eaten a part of Gonzalez’s mind and an eyeball whereas consuming sake.
Smith had warned his cousin that he was going to kill somebody, hours earlier than Gonzalez was murdered, Rabb beforehand informed police.
“I mean, I’ve heard of Hannibal Lecter, but I never thought I could have someone in my family who would actually eat someone,” Rabb stated.
Following the February announcement of Smith’s launch, critics, together with Republican state Sen. Paul Cicarella, argued that Smith shouldn’t be launched and may stay below shut watch in a hospital.
“Murder and cannibalism and release in the same sentence. That’s a problem. That’s concerning to me,” he informed WFSB.
Cicarella and fellow Republican state Senators Henri Martin, Heather Somers and Stephen Harding referred to as the choice “outrageous” and “mind-boggling.”
“This individual killed and ate part of his victim and was found not guilty by reason of insanity,” the lawmakers stated in an announcement.
“His victim’s family raised objections about his release. What about THEM? Where is the justice for THEM? This terrible decision puts public safety in jeopardy and is yet another terrible message to send to CT violent crime victims and their families. This person should never be out. We are dumbfounded at this injustice. In what universe is this OK?”
The Connecticut Division of Corrections didn’t reply to a request for remark.
Fox Information Digital’s Landon Mion contributed to this report.
