A New York City police officer has been found guilty of plotting
to murder his wife, and cook and eat other women.
The FBI arrested Gilberto Valle, 28, last year following a
tip-off by his wife.
The trial heard how Valle had taken steps to carry out his plan
of abducting, torturing and eating women he knew.
Defence lawyers argued it was merely a role-playing fantasy he
had concocted while browsing fetish websites.
But
a Manhattan federal court heard how Galle had contacted some of the women
mentioned in his plans.
He also used a police department database to look up their
personal information, emailing and texting them and meeting at least one of
them.
Valle also used the internet to research the best rope for tying
up people and to learn which chemicals render a person unconscious. Search
terms found on his computer included "human flesh" and "white
slavery".
During the trial, Valle's estranged wife, Kathleen Mangan, 27,
testified against him.
She said she had found emails detailing his plans to slit her
throat and kidnap and kill her friend.
Ms Mangan said that in the emails, Valle discussed how two other
women would be "raped in front of each other to heighten their
fears", and another would be roasted alive over a fire.
Both she and Valle wept when the court was shown a picture of
him in his police uniform, feeding their newborn daughter.
After Tuesday's guilty verdict, Manhattan prosecutor Preet
Bharara said: "Today, a unanimous jury found that Gilberto Valle's
detailed and specific plans to abduct women for the purpose of committing
grotesque crimes were very real, and that he was guilty as charged.
"The
internet is a forum for the free exchange of ideas, but it does not confer
immunity for plotting crimes and taking steps to carry out those crimes."
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