Notorious NYC cannibal who fed homeless people in parks human BRAINS quietly moved to new facility…sparking fears of potential release
A notorious cannibal famously dubbed the ‘Butcher of Tompkins Square Park’ has reportedly been moved to a lower-security wing of a psychiatric facility, leading some hospital employees to speculate that he is one step closer to freedom.
Daniel Rakowitz, 65, stood trial in 1991 for killing and dismembering his roommate, Monika Beerle, then disgustingly feeding her remains to homeless people in the summer of 1989.
He was found not criminally responsible for her murder by reason of insanity and committed to the maximum-security Kirby Forensic Psychiatric Center on Ward’s Island.
However, sources recently revealed to the New York Post that Rakowitz was moved to the Manhattan Psychiatric Center two years ago. The facility is also on Ward’s Island but has less security.
An anonymous source told the publication that the center is ‘letting people out prematurely every day,’ and speculated that ‘he may be one of those that end up getting out.’
‘They [hospital administration] kept it a soft opening, like letting people know just before they moved him,’ the source said, adding, ‘they’re trying to get us used to it.’
They said that hospital staff were shocked to see Rakowitz roaming around the lower-security wing.
Patients at Kirby come to the facility through the courts, while the Manhattan Psychiatric Center offers inpatient and outpatient services.
Daniel Rakowitz, now 65, was found not guilty by reason of insanity in 1991 for the murder and dismemberment of his roommate
One witness testified during his trial that he fed Beerle’s remains to homeless people in Tompkins Square Park. He is pictured in the park above in 1987 arguing with an unidentified homeless man
Newspaper clippings said at the time that a holdout juror was responsible for the ‘not guilty’ verdict
The Manhattan Psychiatric Center also offers transitional living for patients after they are admitted to the hospital.
The Office of Mental Health, which oversees the state-run facilities, did not confirm Rakowitz’s move, citing privacy laws. The Daily Mail has also reached out to the agency for comment.
Rakowitz petitioned the New York Supreme Court to transfer to a less secure facility in 2010, but was denied and ordered to stay at Kirby.
Former Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance said at the time that the court’s decision ‘continues to protect the residents of New York.’
Rakowitz’s case shocked the public when he was acquitted. The View co-host Sunny Hostin revealed earlier this month that she was the lone holdout juror during a panel discussion on the Lindsay Clancy case.
Clancy was on trial for the murder of her three children. The jury was ready to deliver a ‘not guilty’ verdict due to the defense’s argument that she was suffering from postpartum psychosis; however, a lone juror prevented the decision, and the case was declared a mistrial.
‘The reason I feel so strongly about this holdout juror is because I was a holdout juror in a case, in the Daniel Rakowitz case,’ Hostin revealed.
‘It was because I saw clearly that he was psychotic. He was in psychosis. He did not mean to kill her, and once he killed her, he panicked. He chopped up her body parts. Yes, boiled her body parts. Tried to commit the perfect crime… and he fed her body parts to the unhoused,’ she said.
Rakowitz was a known character in the East Village for selling marijuana and walking around with a live chicken, pictured above. He has been held in a maximum-security facility, but has reportedly been moved to another center on Ward’s Island
Hostin recalled that jury deliberations were intense, and one of her fellow jurors threw a chair at her amidst a heated discussion.
The co-host’s claims were later called into question when unearthed newspaper clippings cited the holdout juror as an unemployed man who wanted the trial to continue so he could be paid and get free meals.
The New York Times reported at the time that one holdout juror convinced the others not to deliver a guilty verdict.
‘We don’t think he intended to kill her. But once he did, he dismembered her body in an effort to commit the perfect crime,’ juror Asuncion Cummings was quoted in the Times after the case concluded. Asuncion Cummings is Hostin’s full maiden name.
After jurors delivered their decision, Rakowitz thanked them and said he hoped ‘someday we can smoke a joint together.’
‘The prosecution had an overwhelming case against me. But I’ll be getting out soon and I’ll sell a lot of marijuana so I can bring to justice the people who actually committed this crime,’ he added.
Rakowitz testified during the trial that he would rather go to prison than a mental hospital because he did not want to be medicated.
He denied killing Beerle, who was a 29-year-old dance student, but did confess to dismembering her, then bleaching and boiling her bones.
One witness testified that Rakowitz served a homeless man at the park soup that contained a human finger.
Before the nauseating crime, Rakowitz was a known character in the East Village neighborhood for selling marijuana and walking around with a live chicken. He called himself the ‘God of Marijuana.’
