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MIAMI ZOMBIE – No Bath Salts, Only Marijuana Found In Face-Eater Toxicology Tests
It wasn’t bath salts.
According to a full toxicology report released Wednesday afternoon by the Miami-Dade medical examiner, the only drug detected in the lifeless body of infamous Miami face-chewer Rudy Eugene was marijuana.
“The department’s toxicology laboratory has identified the active components of marijuana,” the medical examiner said in a statement, according to NBC Miami. “The laboratory has tested for but not detected any other street drugs, alcohol or prescription drugs…This includes cocaine, LSD, amphetamines (Extasy, Meth and others), phencyclidine (PCP or Angel Dust), heroin, oxycodone, Xanax, synthetic marijuana (Spice), and many other similar compounds.”
CBS Miami reports that the medical examiner’s office sought the assistance of an “outside forensic toxicology reference laboratory” to help confirm the absence of common ingredients of bath salts, a synthetic amphetamine cocktail blamed inseveral recent incidents that bear some similarity to Eugene’s attack.
“Within the limits of current technology by both laboratories,” stated a press release from Medical Examiner Dr. Bruce Hyma, “marijuana is the only drug identified in the body of Mr. Rudy Eugene.”
The report did not address previously reported autopsy findings of what appeared to be undigested pills in Eugene’s stomach, according to the Miami Herald, and an expert told the Associate Press marijuana alone was not likely to cause such an attack.
“The problem today is that there is an almost an infinite number of chemical substances out there that can trigger unusual behavior,” said Dr. Bruce Goldberger, Professor and Director of Toxicology at the University of Florida.Goldberger said that the medical examiner’s office in Miami is known for doing thorough work and that he’s confident they and the independent lab covered as much ground as possible. But it’s nearly impossible for toxicology testing to keep pace with new formulations of synthetic drugs.
“There are many of these synthetic drugs that we currently don’t have the methodology to test on, and that is not the fault of the toxicology lab. The challenge today for the toxicology lab is to stay on top of these new chemicals and develop methodologies for them, but it’s very difficult and very expensive.” Goldberger said. “There is no one test or combination of tests that can detect every possible substance out there.”
The medical examiner’s office did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Eugene, 31, was widely speculated to have been on some form of synthetic drugs or suffering a drug-induced psychosis the afternoon of May 26 when he stripped naked and brutally attacked homeless resident Ronald Poppo in broad daylight along Miami’s busy MacArthur Causeway, chewing and ripping off roughly half of the older man’s face.
A police officer responding to multiple 911 calls shot and killed Eugene as he crouched over Poppo, reportedly refusing to stop the gruesome assault by growling at the officer with Poppo’s flesh in his mouth.
The 18-minute attack and its aftermath were captured on surveillance video from the Miami Herald’s parking garage, but it is still unknown what prompted Eugene to commit such a horrific crime.
According to Local10, the former North Miami Beach High School football player was once diagnosed as schizophrenic after an arrest, but authorities are not sure if he ever sought treatment.
Records show Eugene had been arrested 8 times since the age of 16, including 4 instances involving marijuana. But though he was once accused of threatening to kill his mother, friends and family members alike say they never expected such violence from Eugene, who was participating in a Bible study, reading the Koran, and telling friends he wanted to stop smoking marijuana.
“There’s no answer for it, not really,” Eugene’s younger brother, Marckenson Charles, told the AP. “Anybody who knew him knows this wasn’t the person we knew him to be. Whatever triggered him, there is no answer for this.”
Poppo, meanwhile, is doing “well,” according to doctors at Jackson Memorial Hospital’s Ryder Trauma Center. The 65-year-old has lost one eye, is missing his nose, and faces a string of surgeries to repair his wounds and reconstruct his face.
“We have mental health professionals to help him with the coping, and he’s coping remarkably well,” said plastic surgeon Dr. Wrood Kassira.
This is a developing story.
Weren’t the Mayans Flesh Eaters Too? Cannibalism & Zombie Apocalypse
More Cannibalism and Zombie Apocalypse reported this week; but this time it involves a Swedish man who allegedly ate his wife’s lips. A few week ago, Miami and Louisiana reported episodes of cannibalistic zombie apocalypse attacks. A Louisiana man stands accused of gnawing his neighbor’s face allegedly from being under the influence of drugs. 43-year-old Carl Jacquneaux of Lafayette Parish is accused of biting off a chunk of Todd Credeur this past weekend. Credeur was able to fend off the attack by spraying Jacquneaux in the face with wasp spray. Shortly after, he was taken into custody at the home of a friend whom he held at knife point.
In Miami, Brandon De Leon, 21, was placed under arrest for allegedly trying to bit a police officer. In De Leon’s case, he was clearly under the influence of the Bath Salt Drug. Globalgrind.com reports that “Leon growled and tried to bite an officer on Saturday…. North Miami Beach Police said De Leon slammed his head repeatedly against the plexiglass of the police cruiser and told the officer ‘I’m going to eat you.’”
These cases along with other have many thinking what exactly is going on. With the world in terrible financial shape and record weather being set daily many everyday people are adding two and two and coming out with the Mayan predictions that suggests our world will be coming to an end on December 21, 2012. To link flesh eating with the Mayans is not a strange correlation, especially when you think of the skulls and bones found by explorers when that visited the ancient city. Some experts are saying, pay attention to Bath Salts, but I don’t think it’s that simple. I hope that we don’t have something like a Mad Max situation taking over our cities.
It may be time that we as a civilization get serious about understanding the world wide trend that appears to have quickly transformed us into a world community. Or perhaps it’s too late to avoid what might be inevitable.
What are your thoughts?
2nd Miami Zombie Attack – Miami homeless man high on ‘bath salts’ growls, tries to bite police officer and smashes his head against cell (AND he’d drunk Four Loko too)
2nd Miami Zombie Attack – Miami homeless man high on ‘bath salts’ growls, tries to bite police officer and smashes his head against cell (AND he’d drunk Four Loko too)
A homeless man high on drugs and drunk on Four Loko growled and tried to bite off a police officer’s hand after he was arrested for disturbing customers in a Miami fast food restaurant.
The incident comes just two weeks after Rudy Eugene chewed the face off a homeless man in Miami. The frenzied 18-minute attack only ended when police shot Eugene dead.
In this new case, Brandon De Leon, 21, repeatedly banged his head against the patrol car’s Plexiglas and yelled, ‘I’m going to eat you.’ Both De Leon and Eugene are believed to have been under the influence of a potent drug, known as bath salts.
Scroll down for video
The shocking crimes have led to a safety warning issued to local police officers when they deal with Miami’s homeless population.
North Miami Beach police spotted De Leon having an argument with another man outside a Boston Market restaurant on Saturday.
According to an arrest report, the men’s fight blocked the restaurant entrance so no-one could come in or leave.
Officers arrested De Leon and Brian Yerdon, 33, for disorderly conduct.
Crime scene: Police officers arrested De Leon after his altercation with Yerdon blocked patrons from entering or leaving this Boston Market restaurant. De Leon had rum and Four Loko on him when he was arrested
At one point De Leon said ‘F*** you’ to officers, showing them his middle finger, the report states.
At the police station, De Leon tried to bite the officer who was taking his blood pressure and tending to his self-inflicted wounds. The police report noted that he ‘growled and opened and closed his jaw slamming his teeth like an animal would.’
Inside his cell, De Leon was put in leg restraints and a bite mask after he continued to bark, growl and bash his head, reported NBC Miami.
De Leon was found to be on bath salts – also known as Cloud 9 – and blood tests revealed levels of cannabis and Xanax. The tests also revealed an alcohol level of .29.
De Leon faces charges including disorderly conduct and resisting an officer with violence. He remains in jail on a $5,500 bond.
In court on Monday De Leon told the judge he could not remember what happened.
‘If I can say something your honor, I have no recollection of anything that happened that night,’ he said. It is not known whether De Leon has a lawyer.
Bath salts, referred to on the street as ‘the new LSD’ and sold as a cocaine substitute, contain amphetamine-like chemicals such as methylenedioxypyrovalerone.
Users of the drug report to feeling no pain. Its effects include paranoia, hallucinations, convulsions and psychotic episodes.
Toxicology results will determine whether Rudy Eugene was on bath salts when he pounced on Ronald Poppo, a 65-year-old homeless man he found sleeping on elevated train tracks by a Miami highway on May 26.
Footage of the attack shows Eugene stripping and punching his victim before he straddles him and starts to eat his face off.
It was almost 20 minutes until officer Jose Rivera shot Eugene shortly after he arrived. He shouted at the 31-year-old to stop but he simply got up and growled and continued eating at the man’s face.
Watch video here
Miami ‘zombie-like’ attacks continue? Man on ‘Cloud 9′ growls, tries to bite North Miami Beach cop
NORTH MIAMI BEACH, Fla. (WSVN) — Officers say a man in police custody has an entire department shocked after he allegedly growled and tried to bite an officer’s hand off; an eerie resemblance to the cannibal attack on a South Florida causeway.
Two North Miami Beach officers were eating at a Boston Market in North Miami Beach on Saturday evening, when Brandon DeLeon, a homeless man, walked into the restaurant and began to yell obscenities at them.
DeLeon then threatened to fight the police officers, forcing them to place him under arrest. But it was the events after DeLeon was put into a holding cell that has officers very concerned.
According to an officer’s safety bulletin, “While at the holding cell, DeLeon banged his head repeatedly inside the holding cell. DeLeon growled at officers in the booking area like a rabid dog. DeLeon attempted to bite Officer Ruiz’s hand off.”
The incident sounds eerily similar to the case of Rudy Eugene who, when confronted by Miami Police under the MacArthur Causeway while ripping the flesh off of homeless man Ronald Poppo, allegedly started to growl.
It has been speculated that Eugene, who chewed off 75 percent of Poppo’s face, had been on drugs at the time of the incident before being shot and killed by police.
Authorities believe DeLeon was on drugs when he tried to bite the officer’s hand off and have advised officers to be extra careful when it comes to the homeless community in South Florida. The officer’s safety bulletin goes on to read: “It was later discovered DeLeon had taken a synthetic drug named Cloud 9. This bears resemblance to the incident that occurred in the City of Miami last week when a male ate another man’s face. Please be careful when dealing with our homeless population during your patrols.”
Cloud 9 is a synthetic drug with terrible side effects such as rage, hallucinations and paranoia.
During a bond hearing on Monday, DeLeon told a judge he couldn’t remember the events. “I have no recollection of anything that happened that night,” he said.
According to 7News sources, the day after the incident with DeLeon, officers stopped some people in the homeless community and found the synthetic drug.
The concern among law enforcement is that Cloud 9 is becoming the drug of choice within the homeless community, and the overriding concern is the violent side effects.
North Miami Beach Police also said DeLeon had the caffeinated, alcoholic beverage Four Loko in his system.
DeLeon remains in jail under a $5,500 bond.
Troubled lives clashed in ‘Miami zombie’ face-eating attack
MIAMI — Saturday’s horror-movie episode on Miami’s MacArthur Causeway brought together two troubled men, one who was struggling to get his life on track, another who’d given up trying.
Rudy Eugene, 31, had been seeking spiritual guidance in Scripture. On May 24, two days before he would viciously attack a homeless man named Ronald Edward Poppo, Eugene attended a Bible-study session at a friend’s North Miami Beach home.
Recently, Eugene posted a verse from Psalm 59 on his Facebook page: “Deliver me from my enemies, O my Lord; Defend me from those who rise up against me. For the Lord God is my defense. …”
Friend Bobby Chery said he, Eugene and another friend discussed that day what they could do to become better men according to the word of God, and that Eugene vowed to give up marijuana.
That same Thursday, Miami Police rousted Poppo from one of the last places he called home: the top floor of the parking garage at Jungle Island, the Watson Island botanical and wildlife attraction.
Outreach workers from the Miami Homeless Assistance Program found him there and offered help, said Ronald Book, chairman of the Miami-Dade County Homeless Trust.
But after Poppo became “belligerent and aggressive,” the outreach team called police. Officers issued Poppo, who had turned 65 a week earlier, a “trespassing after warning” citation.
“He grabbed his box of stuff and went off,” said Book. Outreach workers reported he was “cursing and claiming discrimination.”
About 2 p.m. on Saturday, a naked Rudy Eugene grabbed Poppo near the causeway’s west end, stripped off his clothes, beat him, bit him, and gnawed off his face.
More than 15 minutes into the attack, a police officer arrived and shot Eugene to death. Poppo remains in critical condition at Jackson Memorial Hospital’s Ryder Trauma Center.
The crazed assault shocked nearly everyone who knew Eugene.
Johansen Aurelus, a childhood friend, called Eugene “preacher” because he liked sharing Bible verses with friends and kept his Bible handy.
Aurelus attended Bethel Baptist Church with Eugene when they were teens. Back then, Aurelus said, Eugene would ask questions about the pastor’s sermons and how they applied to his life.
Over the years Rudy had some run-ins with the police for marijuana possession and a domestic dispute. Most recently, he had difficulty holding a job, friends say.
Eugene’s stepfather, Melimon Charles, of North Miami, said that Eugene “is not the kind of devil who goes out and kill people like they are showing on the news. He’s a fine boy. He was raised in the church. He was in the choir.”
Trouble may have started about the time Eugene learned Melimon was not his biological father, in ninth or tenth grade, although Melimon had been with Eugene’s mom Ruth since the boy was 2.
Rudy “was angry because he was looking for his father,” Charles said. “His father passed away and he didn’t know. And I didn’t know anything about it. I didn’t even have a picture to show him.”
Soon after, he said, Eugene accepted “the truth and we were doing fine.”
But at 17, Eugene moved out of his home, without telling his stepfather. He transferred from North Miami Beach High School to North Miami High.
If he was upset over “family issues,” it was because of his parents’ divorce, which happened after he was an adult, Charles said.
Charles dismisses gossip that Rudy was the target of a voodoo curse.
“Nobody went to Haiti and did anything to him,” he insisted.
Though Eugene had stopped attending church regularly, he maintained his quest for spirituality. He regularly sent inspirational text messages to his friends. And on Facebook, he mentions “Zoe Life” several times — a phrase both associated with Haitian life and with born-again Christians.
His final post, on May 18, proclaimed: “ZOE LIFE IS ETERNAL!!!!!!!!!”
Friends posted tributes on his page.
“Damn, I still can’t believe it, out of all people, YOU! You have been a great friend to me, and for that you will always be missed!” said Meli Mel Rivera.
Ranessia Rollins posted that Eugene was at her house on Friday and kissed her cheek.
All of his friends expressed disbelief and solidarity.
Pudding Sabali said: “They’re telling me (us) that we shouldn’t have any grief for you dying. But it’s hard to not have the deepest warm feeling when it comes to you … just a young man misunderstood … God have mercy on your soul.”
Understanding Ronald Poppo is harder because he lived anonymously for so long.
Ron Book said that outreach workers had been offering him services since Dec. 27, 1999. At the time, he said he hadn’t lived at a permanent address since 1970.
Poppo said he’d become homeless outside of Florida, slept on Watson Island and abused alcohol.
He stayed in an emergency shelter for 141 days, during which he saw a counselor once, according to assistance program records.
Four years later, Miami police took him back to the shelter. Starting on Oct. 6, 2003, Poppo stayed for 10 days, and again met once with a counselor.
Between that stay and his last encounter with outreach workers on May 24th, Poppo may have spent less than a week living inside.
Records show he stayed twice at Camillus House in 2004, on Jan. 26 and July 20, and once at the Homeless Assistance Center on Nov. 16. His last stay: Jan. 23, 2005, under a cold weather sheltering program.
On Nov. 11, 2004, some kind of “mental crisis” brought him to Jackson’s crisis intervention unit, but an assistance program report is unclear about whether he stayed overnight.
Outreach teams approached him three times in 2005 and 2006, but he refused help.
“During one of the contacts he became angry and started throwing rocks at the outreach staff,” Book said.
Among Miami’s 240 to 260 chronic homeless people, “sometimes after three, 10, 30 attempts, we get a guy or woman to come in,” Book said. “There are people for different reasons, it takes them that long, maybe never, to get off the streets.”
Details of Poppo’s life have been surfacing in bits since the assault. The 1964 graduate of New York’s elite Stuyvesant High School grew up in Brooklyn, according to long-lost sister Antoinette Poppo.
Neither she nor Poppo’s two brothers have seen him in more than 30 years, she said, and none of them plan a trip to Miami. Two siblings live in New York, another in California.
Their late father was a shipfitter, she said, a structural worker in a shipyard. She believes that “Ronnie” attended both parents’ funerals.
She couldn’t explain the conditions that led to her brother’s downward spiral and his estrangement from the family.
“I’m 12 years older,” she said. “He was 6 years old when I got married and left the house.”
But she called him “a very intelligent boy and a gentle person.”
For a time in the late ’80s, Poppo worked as a roadie for the band SKUM, which spent about two years in Miami before breaking up around 1990.
They’re reuniting for a documentary, said former lead singer Hart Baur, of Miami. He said that part of the band’s philosophy was to hire homeless guys to carry equipment.
In an email from North Carolina, former bass player Patrick Burke, a former Miamian, said band members would see “homeless guys panhandling, so we’d take them to Burger King, and say, ‘You want to work, take out the garbage and sweep up the parking lot?’ ”
They’d give them a few bucks, booze and dinner.
There were moments of lucidity with Poppo, whom he called Ernie, “because I thought he looked like Ernest Hemingway,” Burke said.
Other band members called him Pops, Burke said, because he looked old.
Poppo was hanging out “under a bridge off Biscayne Boulevard” when the band met him, Burke said. “He loved to drink and we used to always kid him about the fact that homeless people always had the best heads of hair. Pops used to say, “It’s just the lifestyle, man — no bad chemicals on my head.”‘
He was always wearing a Yankee cap, Burke said, “and he would take it off to show his locks to the girls at our shows. … Last time I saw him was at the Grove Cinema in 1989.”
On Thursday, the Jackson Memorial Foundation established a fund for Poppo’s care. Foundation spokesman Larry Clark said that “inquiries have come from all over the country.”
Donations can be made on the foundation’s website, www.jmf.org (click the “Take Action Now” tab, and then click on donations. On the donation page, select “other” in the Contribution Details section and write in “Ronald Poppo”).
Donations by check should be sent to Jackson Memorial Foundation, Park Plaza East, Suite G, 901 N.W. 17th Street, Miami, FL 33136.; write “Ronald Poppo” on the memo line.