German Cannibal Sought New Victim, Court Told

The trial of German cannibal Armin Meiwes took a turn in favor of the prosecution on Monday when the accused admitted that he had been searching the Internet for another person to eat when he was arrested for consuming his first victim. Months after killing, dissecting and eating Bernd-Jürgen Brandes, the man he met via the Internet, Meiwes wrote in an e-mail to a friend: "I hope I will soon find another victim, the flesh has almost all gone." Meiwes’ told the court he planned to share the final remains of his previous victim with his next one before proceeding with killing. Meiwes, a 42-year-old computer technician, told a court in Kassel that Brandes volunteered to be killed. That could make it more difficult for prosecutors to make a murder charge apply, while the lesser charge of manslaughter carries a substantially shorter sentence. Prosecutors in the case are arguing for a life sentence on the grounds that Meiwes is too dangerous to ever be released.