New York cop plotted to kidnap, eat women: authorities

NEW YORK // A New York police officer has been arrested on charges of plotting to kidnap and eat women, federal authorities said yesterday.

According to a criminal complaint dated Wednesday, Gilberto Valle, a New York Police Department officer, conspired with an unnamed partner "about kidnapping, cooking and eating body parts of women".

"The allegations in the complaint really need no description from us. They speak for themselves," FBI acting assistant director Mary Galligan said.

"It would be an understatement merely to say Valle's own words and actions were shocking."

The FBI learned about Valle's plan in September when he discussed it on emails and instant messages from his home computer, according to the complaint.

A search of his computer allegedly revealed files kept on at least 100 women, each with a name and photograph and often personal details such as address and descriptions.

Valle is believed to have used law enforcement databases to gather his list and concoct a "plan to abduct and cook an identified woman, researching methods of disabling and drugging women, and agreeing with at least one other individual to kidnap a woman in exchange for a sum of money."

During one online conversation that took place in July between Valle and the unidentified co-conspirator, the complaint says, Valle was asked "how big is your oven?"

Valle allegedly answered: "Big enough to fit one of these girls if I folded their legs."

Further discussing the culinary aspects of the plot, the co-conspirator allegedly asked Valle what his "favorite cut of meat" was and advised against using a spit over a fire.

"Spitting kills the girl. Have to put her into a kind of cage," the co-conspirator wrote.

"I was thinking of tying her body onto some kind of apparatus," Valle allegedly responds. "Cook her over a low heat, keep her alive as long as possible."