A California inmate and self-proclaimed satanist decapitated and dissected the body of his cellmate with a makeshift "shank" in 2019. However, the heinous act reportedly did not catch the attention of prison guards.
31-year-old Jaime Osuna beheaded his cellmate, 44-year-old Luis Romero, but both men were reported as alive after the guards at Corcoran State Prison made their rounds, per two reports on California prisons from the inspector general's office, the Washington Examiner reported.
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While the reports did not explain why the officers didn't discover the body sooner, Romero's family filed a lawsuit earlier this year seeking a jury trial and an undisclosed amount of damages over his murder.
"The idea that my client had to sue in order to get basic questions answered about her son’s death is disheartening," said Justin Sterling, an attorney representing Romero's family, the Associated Press reported.
Sterling argued that guards are required to check cells at frequent intervals and that the crime would have taken hours to commit, which meant the guards were not conducting proper checks. The report's findings, however, were disputed by the Department of Corrections, saying it had done a "thorough and complete investigation from the very beginning."
Court documents alleged that guards hadn't checked the cell even after a bedsheet was visibly draped along the bars inside Romero's and Osuna's cell.
"In the early morning hours of March 9, 2019, Corcoran officials finally conducted a safety check and looked on the other side of the bedsheet. At that point, Mr Romero was found decapitated, and Mr Osuna was found wearing a necklace made of Mr Romero’s body parts," the filing stated.
Kings County Executive Assistant District Attorney Phil Esbenshade said it was the most heinous slaying he had come across in his career. “We do believe that the victim was conscious during at least a portion of the time,” he said.
While disfiguring Romero, Osuna is said to have cut out one of his cellmate's eyes, chopped off one of his fingers, taken out some of his ribs, and sliced out part of his lung. After decapitating Romero, Osuna reportedly posed with his lifeless body and wore a necklace made of his body parts.
Romero had spent 27 years in prison and was nearing parole eligibility at the time of his death. He was placed in the cell with Osuna after arriving from Mule Creek State Prison. He was reportedly convicted of second-degree murder after fatally shooting a woman in Compton as a teenager and associating with known undesirables.
On the other hand, Osuna was serving a life sentence for the torture and murder of Yvette Pena, 37, at a Bakersfield motel in 2011. Osuna became a dark figure during his 2017 trial, with face tattoos and Charles Manson-esque satanic antics. At the time, he mocked the victim's family and bragged to a reporter how he loved torturing people. According to KTLA, he had never had a cellmate until Romero.
Osuna was transferred to Salinas Valley State Prison's psychiatric inpatient program after being diagnosed with unspecified schizophrenia spectrum, antisocial personality disorder, and borderline personality disorder.
A judge has ruled that Osuna is not mentally fit to stand trial for Romero's death.
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