A New York City police officer accused of plotting to kidnap, murder, cook, and eat women was scheduled to appear in court Monday afternoon for the start of a trial that could see a defense based on fetishes and sexual fantasies.
Opening statements were slated for Monday in the case against Gilberto Valle, 28, of Queens, the officer accused of the crime and charged with two counts of kidnapping.
Prosecutors reportedly have damning evidence, such as e-mails, instant messages, computer files, and online transcripts, which suggest Valle had plans to murder and consume his victims. Prosecutors claim Valle was part of a criminal cannibal conspiracy and made "dangerous" plans with a New Jersey man to kidnap, rape, and murder a Manhattan woman.
In the online correspondences between Valle and the other man, Valle allegedly wrote that his oven was "big enough to fit one of these girls if I folded their legs,"
NBC New York reported.
Prosecutors say Valle also used a law enforcement database to compile a list of potential targets. A list of at least 100 women was found on his computer, with photos, names, and addresses attached, according to The Associated Press.
"I'm planning on getting me some girl meat," Valle reportedly wrote in a chat room. "It's this November, for Thanksgiving. She's not a volunteer. She has to be abducted."
Assistant U.S. Attorney Hadassa Waxman said she believed Valle's words carried weight.
"Had he not been arrested, we believe he would have carried out his plan," she told reporters at a press conference.
In February 2012, Valle allegedly negotiated to kidnap a woman for someone else, saying in an email,"$5,000 and she's yours." If convicted on the kidnapping count, Valle could face life in prison.
Defense attorneys argue that Valle lived in a fantasy world and would have never acted on his cannibalistic fantasies. They plan to call expert witnesses to the stand who will give jurors a tutorial on online sexual deviance and fetishes called "vore," shorthand for carnivore.
"We're talking about someone with a fantasy, in a deviant world where people talk about unreal things," said Valle's defense lawyer Julia Gato during preliminary hearings last October. "At worst, he has sexual fantasies about people he knows."
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