California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation via AP
- A self-styled "satanist" decapitated and dissected his cellmate's body, the Los Angeles Times reported.
- Prison guards noted that both inmates were alive and well after doing rounds of the jail, the paper said.
- When guards eventually found the dead body, the killer wore a necklace of his victim's body parts.
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A convicted killer decapitated and dissected the body of his cellmate without prison guards noticing, according to a Los Angeles Times report.
Jaime Osuna, a 31-year-old self-styled "satanist," murdered his cellmate, Luis Romero, 44, on the morning of March 9, 2019, the paper reported.
But prison guards reported that both inmates were alive and well after doing rounds of Corcoran State Prison, California, two new state documents seen by the Times said.
The documents accuse the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation of conducting an inadequate investigation into the killing and delaying disciplinary action against the guards, according to the paper. The department disputes the findings.
Romero's family have also filed a lawsuit alleging that the department has a "veil of secrecy" surrounding the brutal murder, the Times reported.
"The idea that my client had to sue in order to get basic questions answered about her son's death is disheartening," Justin Sterling, the attorney for Romero's family, told the paper.
Sterling also suggested that had guards performed satisfactory checks, Romero would not be dead.
The attorney added that Romero's murder would have taken hours to commit, KTLA 5 reported.
When prison guards eventually arrived at the cell, they found Osuna wearing a necklace made of Romero's body parts, the Times said.
He had cut out one of his victim's eyes, chopped off a finger, removed part of his ribs, sliced out his lung, cut off his head, and used a razor-blade to great a gash resembling a smile, according to an autopsy.
Osuna, who had only become Romero's cellmate shortly before the killing, was serving a life sentence for murdering and torturing a 37-year-old woman in Bakersfield, California, in 2011, the Times said.
In a 2017 trial for this crime, he bragged to a news reporter about his love of torturing people, KTLA 5 reported.
Osuna has been diagnosed with unspecified schizophrenia spectrum, antisocial personality disorder, borderline personality disorder, and post-traumatic stress disorder, according to KGET.
Criminal proceedings are suspended until Osuna is ruled to be competent to stand trial, the media outlet added.