http://www.azcentral.com/offbeat/art...male22-ON.html

Tamale maker denies using human flesh in food

Associated Press
Apr. 22, 2004 06:55 AM

MEXICO CITY - A tamale vendor in western Mexico was arrested after
police discovered a carved-up body in his home, a spokeswoman for state
prosecutors said Wednesday. The vendor denied using human flesh in his
food.

The vendor, who sold tamales from a cart in the city of Morelia in
Michoacan state, was arrested Tuesday after police received an anonymous
tip that he had a dismembered body in his house, said Lorena Cortes, a
spokeswoman for Michoacan state prosecutors.

Police entered the home and found body parts, some of which appeared to
have been boiled with herbs. A daylong analysis of the tamales found in
the house revealed that they were free of human flesh, Cortes said.

But she said Wednesday night that police found other materials that
suggested the suspect intended to make a new batch of tamales and that
bits of human flesh were discovered nearby.

"It is unknown if he planned to use the human meat in new tamales,"
Cortes said. "More investigation is necessary."

The suspect told police he killed the man, who has not yet been
identified by police, in a drunken argument on Monday, but he denied
using the body parts in his tamales, Cortes said.

The suspect's name was released but their were conflicting reports on
how it was spelled. Cortes said he was born in Cuernavaca, a colonial
city south of Mexico City and that he had worked as a butcher in the
Mexican capital before arriving in Morelia seven or eight years ago.

"His experience as a butcher helped him cut the body," Cortes said,
adding that the suspect may also have sliced up his victim in order to
feed the remains to rats as way of destroying the evidence.

He was in the custody of state prosecutors who were conducting
physiological test Monday night, Cortes said.

The story was front-page news in Mexico, where one tabloid headline
screamed: "Tamales of Death!"

Some newspapers ran pictures of a bloody torso on the living room floor
and mangled body parts next to a cooking pot.

Tamales are a typical Mexican meal, often eaten at breakfast. They can
contain almost any ingredients - often pork or chicken - buried inside
cornmeal and wrapped in corn husks or banana leaves.

"People are very dismayed because in this city, the culinary tradition
of the tamale is very important," Cortes said.