[Warning: Potentially Triggering Content]
A 28-year-old Spanish man was sentenced to 15 years in prison on Wednesday for allegedly killing — and eating — his mother.
According to reports, Alberto Sánchez Gómez was arrested in February 2019 after police discovered human remains in and around his mother’s apartment in Madrid. When investigating the property after a friend voiced concern, police found Maria Soledad Gómez’s remains — which had reportedly been cut up into more than 1,000 small pieces — stored in plastic containers inside his refrigerator and in drawers around the family’s home.
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Alberto actually confessed to officials upon his arrest:
“Yes, my mother is in here dead.”
The waiter also reportedly told cops that he had been eating his mother “bit by bit” with his dog. But not every bit. Maria’s head, hands, and heart were found on her bed.
In court, Sánchez Gómez admitted to strangling his mother after an argument. The indictment from his two-week trial explained:
“The accused then transferred his mother’s body to the bedroom and put it on the bed with the aim of making her body disappear. To do that he cut her up using a carpenter’s saw and two kitchen knives… Once he had cut her body up he would eat bits of it from time to time over a period of around a fortnight, putting some of the parts of her body in Tupperware containers around the apartment and in the fridge and throwing others away in plastic bags.”
Sánchez Gómez, whose father died when he was 15, claimed in court he had heard “hidden messages” when he watched TV and voices telling him to “kill [his] mom.” He said that the voices he heard were those of neighbors, acquaintances, and even celebrities.
However, the convicted cannibal swore he didn’t remember cutting up his mother or eating her remains, despite telling police otherwise at the murder scene. He insisted during a final address to the court:
“I’m very repentant. I suffer anxiety from the moment I wake up. I think of my mum and I’m absolutely heartbroken.”
But police made sure to remind the court what the suspect said during his arrest, telling jurors:
“He began to tell us as he was being transferred to a police station that he had strangled her from behind. He also said he had eaten parts of her body, some cooked and some raw, and had given some pieces to the dog.”
Jurors also heard that Sánchez Gómez regularly consumed drugs and alcohol, had previously been arrested 12 times for mistreating his mother, and had breached restraining orders several times.
The jurors dismissed Sánchez Gómez’s claims he was experiencing a “psychotic episode” when he committed the grisly act. He was convicted of homicide and desecration of a human corpse, for which he will serve a total of 15 years and five months behind bars. Sánchez Gómez has also been ordered to pay €60,000 (about $72,000 USD) to his brother.
Not that any amount could ever make this right.
[Image via Policía Nacional]
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