Oklahoma Man Charged With Cannibalism Plot to Be Tried for Murder

A judge ruled Tuesday that Kevin Ray Underwood, 26, will be tried for first-degree murder in the killing of 10-year old Jamie Rose Bolin. Underwood, a grocery store clerk, lived in the same apartment complex as the girl. Bolin’s mother reported her missing on April 12 after she did not return from a trip to the library. Police found her naked body nearly decapitated inside a plastic tub in Underwood’s closet.

FBI agent Craig Overby testified at Tuesday’s hearing that when he spotted the girl’s clothing inside the plastic tub, he asked Underwood where Bolin was. Underwood responded, "She’s in there. I hit her and chopped her up." After Underwood was arrested, police and prosecutors gradually revealed grisly details of the crime, saying that Underwood had killed the girl, raped her corpse, and planned to eat her flesh. Investigators think he hit Jamie several times with a wooden cutting board, then placed his hand and duct tape over her mouth to suffocate her.

Police believe Underwood had been planning to commit the crime for some time, and selected Jamie simply because she happened to walk past his apartment on the day he decided to put his thoughts into action. Underwood had documented his thoughts and musings in an Internet blog for years, joking about cannibalism and writing about how isolated, depressed, and homicidal he felt. "My fantasies are just getting weirder and weirder. Dangerously weird," Underwood wrote in September 2004. "If people knew the kinds of things I think about anymore, I'd probably be locked away. No probably about it, I know I would be."

Prosecutors have said that they will seek the death penalty for Underwood. Jamie’s aunt, Linda Chiles, said Monday that she hopes her niece’s killer is convicted and put to death. "I feel sorry for his family. I feel sorry for our family," Chiles told reporters. "What he did is unspeakable. There's no way to take it back. There's no way to fix it. He didn't just break a glass; he broke a baby."