Mexican tamale chef kills and cooks his buddy

A Mexican tamale chef killed his drinking buddy and made tamales* using the man's body. He cut up the body and boiled the body parts in herbs.

Carlos Machuca, a 56-year-old man, who is tamale-maker for a living, was arrested at his home in Morelia after the police received an anonymous phone call on Tuesday.

When the police arrived at Mr Machuca's house, they found a mutilated corpse of a man in the living room. They also found some body parts simmering in saucepans on the stove.

Lorena Cortes, a spokeswoman for Michoacan state prosecutors said: "We saw the flesh and the tamales, and our first impression was that he was making tamales with the flesh of the deceased, although it has yet to be confirmed".

Lorena also said that it looked like Carlos was trying to dispose of the body by maybe even selling the tamales to customers. According to the police Carlos stabbed the man with a knife trough the heart. It happened after both men got into a fight after they had been drinking together.

* Tamales is a Mexican dish made of chopped meat and crushed peppers, highly seasoned, wrapped in cornhusks spread with masa, and steamed.

Posted in Crime & Law Health & Food by Bas van Rijn