Cannibal Cop

This story is just too bizarre for me not to have something to say about it. Frankly, I can hardly believe it and you can bet Hollywood is already writing a screen play for a movie inspired by this true story.

The trial of Gilberto Valle is now underway and he has, of course, a female attorney to defend him. The facts of the case are that Valle, a member of the NYPD, was involved in an online subculture with people who plan and plot to kidnap, rape, cook and eat women. He also managed to use a government data base to collect information on specific women he wanted to target. It is reported that he had a list of at least 100 women and was involved with two online predators, one in Great Britain and a butcher in India, with the same sick minds and into cannibalism. Valle discussed taking his then girlfriend (now wife and mother of his child) to India, where the men could gag her, take her to the basement and take turns sexually assaulting her. Then they would slit her throat and cook her. Valle said he loved the thought of stringing her upside down, watch her suffer and slowly cook her till she dies. He actually wanted to cook women alive.

The defense? Yes, he has a defense. Valle pleads not guilty and his lawyer says he never actually committed any crimes or harmed any women, it was all fantasy. Role-playing with like minded individuals, she called it. If it was fantasy, why did he need real information on these specific women? Why was he trying to get information about their jobs and daily routines? To me that shows intent to do harm and carry out his plans. And who is going to decide what was the real operation of his mind? Who do we believe?  His lawyer? Do we just take him at his word that this was all a “game,” and let him back into society? Or do we trust the mounting and irrefutable evidence that he himself created due to his obsession?

His wife took the stand on Monday to testify. She learned she and her friends were at the top of her husband’s list of planned victims. His wife said she found Valle to be acting strange and her concern led her to install spyware into the computer to see what was going on. What she found was shocking and unimaginable. Once she read and saw the horrible pictures of what he had been obsessed with, she took their baby daughter and left the home. She took her laptop with her, back to her parents home in Nevada, and handed over keys to FBI for them to search her apartment. That is when authorities found websites and incriminating Google searches for rope, chloroform, and recipes for “human flesh.”

Valle, if convicted, faces life in prison. Thank God he has never actually harmed anyone, that that know of yet. Who knows how close he was to actually executing his sick plans? I can’t for the life of me imagine what kind of mind would/could conceive of ideas like these. I am just glad his wife and daughter are safe and that spyware exists so she was able to discover his intentions before she was his first victim.

Yesterday, the jury returned a verdict. Guilty on all counts of conspiracy to commit kidnapping. His lawyers were upset saying he was charged with a crime because of internet searches and fantasies he wasn’t going to act on. They say we don’t know the operation of his mind and can’t prove intent to harm anyone. They also say we all need to be worried about our online searches. I say they can’t prove he didn’t have intent to harm. I say his actions all point to his intent to do harm. I saw the charts of the 100 women he had selected with their pictures and information of where they lived, worked and more. I saw the searches on how to make chloroform. He detailed how he was going to place the body so it fit in an oven. He searched for torture devices and other tools. He agreed to kidnap a woman for $5,000 for a guy who wanted to rape and kill her and then showed up on her block. The other man has been arrested. And there were plenty of pictures of women being tortured that upset the jury. The prosecution states that Valle went beyond just thoughts, he took actual steps to carry out his conspiracy. That he was plotting to commit crimes. The jury made its decision based on all the evidence presented.

Valle’s mother was shocked. She was there every day of the trial and cannot understand how her poor, innocent son could be convicted when he didn’t do anything. Sorry, but I find it hard to come up with any sympathy for her. And to his defense attorneys, and anyone else who feels Valle got a raw deal and was wrongfully convicted, I say what if your daughter or wife was on his list of planned victims? Would you feel the same way? Should law enforcement have waited around until one of the victims actually disappeared? Is that what his defense attorneys are suggesting? Let’s wait and see how far he is willing to go to carry out these crimes? Thank God we will never have to “wait and see.” Hopefully, he will get life in prison and this menacing man will never be a threat to anyone again.