Alexander Kinyua

Case overview

Alexander Kinyua was an engineering student at Morgan State University in Maryland. He was accused of killing and dismembering Kujoe Bonsafo Agyei-Kodie, an exchange student from Ghana who had been staying with the Kinyua family pending deportation to his home country due to non-compliance with the terms of his visa. Police alleged that Kinyua ate parts of Agyei-Kodie’s organs, including his heart and part of his brain, and that some remains were found in metal tins and in other locations.

Kinyua was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia. He was indefinitely committed to a Maryland mental institution.

Background

Alexander Kinyua was born October 23, 1990 in Nairobi and emigrated from Kenya to the United States as a child. He became a U.S. citizen. At the time of the alleged murder and cannibalism, he was 21 years old and was an engineering student at Morgan State University. His father, Antony Kinyua, was a professor at Morgan State University.

Kinyua’s father reported that Agyei-Kodie went missing after going for a jog, and the investigation later led back to the Kinyua family home.

Agyei-Kodie had met Antony Kinyua while pursuing a doctoral degree at Morgan State University. A relative in the United States had been notified after Agyei-Kodie’s remains were positively identified.

Agyei-Kodie came to the United States on a student visa but was not in compliance with the visa’s terms. He was ordered removed by an immigration judge in 2010 and was under ICE supervision pending removal to Ghana. The agency was waiting for documents from Ghana before returning him. He was staying with the Kinyua family, and a friend of the victim described the family’s role in taking in Agyei-Kodie while he re-established his life. Investigators said they did not give a possible motive in the slaying.

The offence

Kinyua was accused of killing Kujoe Bonsafo Agyei-Kodie and dismembering him. Police alleged that Kinyua cut up Agyei-Kodie with a knife and ate his heart and portions of his brain. Authorities said he directed police to Towne Baptist Church, where the rest of Agyei-Kodie’s remains were found in a trash container on the property.

Authorities said some remains were found in tins in the family basement and that further remains were found in a dumpster outside a church about a mile away.

Investigation

On Friday, May 25, 2012, Kujoe Bonsafo Agyei-Kodie was reported missing by Kinyua’s father.

Police were reported to have gone to the Kinyua residence on May 31 after being contacted by Kinyua’s brother. Investigators were said to have found what looked like body parts in two metal tins in the basement. Further remains were said to have been found in a dumpster outside a church about a mile away.

Harford authorities described the investigation as involving concerns about inconsistencies in statements made by the suspect’s family. Authorities said they were exploring whether others participated based on those inconsistencies, though they said there was no reason to believe there were additional victims.

Monica Worrell, a county police spokeswoman, stated that the remains had been positively identified as Agyei-Kodie’s and that no other charges had been filed against anyone else.

Arrest and charges

Alexander Kinyua was arrested and charged in connection with the death of Kujoe Bonsafo Agyei-Kodie. He was arrested and charged with first degree murder, along with first and second degree assault.

At his first court appearance in Harford District Court in Bel Air, defense attorney Lynne McChrystal requested reasonable bail in the case and stated that Kinyua had been in Harford County for six years and in Maryland for nine years. Kinyua appeared via live video feed from prison wearing a Harford County Detention Center uniform.

During questioning by Judge John L. Dunnigan, Kinyua said that all of his family members lived in Maryland and that he was originally from Nairobi, Kenya. Assistant State’s Attorney Trenna Manners cited the out-of-country ties and the “grisly” nature of the crime; Judge John L. Dunnigan agreed to hold him without bail.

Kinyua had been without a prior criminal record before May.

Harford authorities also alleged that Kinyua killed and dismembered Agyei-Kodie while out on bail in a separate assault case that occurred on the campus of Morgan State University.

Trial and legal proceedings

Mental state and competence

Alexander Kinyua pleaded not criminally responsible in the assault case. A state psychiatric hospital previously found that Kinyua was not criminally responsible for his actions in the separate assault case because he was suffering from severe psychosis.

On August 16, 2012, Kinyua was declared incompetent to stand trial, according to court records. Harford County State’s Attorney Joseph I. Cassilly said that prosecutors had reviewed a report from Clifton T. Perkins Hospital and agreed to the designation without a court hearing. The finding meant the court decided Kinyua could not contribute to his defense and he would be treated at Perkins.

Kinyua was at Perkins since June 20 after being moved there from the Harford County Detention Center. Perkins functioned as a hospital but with security features of a prison.

Dr. David Helsel, Perkins’ superintendent, stated:

“In some instances it's simply a knowledge deficit about how court works. More commonly, the issue is that the persons may be having difficult with distinguishing fantasy from reality, or may have delusional thoughts about what the judge's role is or who the judge is. We treat the underlying illness that is causing them to have distorted beliefs.”

He also said treatment generally included medication and forms of therapy such as psychotherapy, group therapy, or family therapy.

Separate case on attempted murder / assault

Months before the alleged Harford County murder, Kinyua was accused of attacking a fellow Morgan State University student with a baseball bat wrapped in barbed wire. The victim in that case was Joshua Ceasar, who was left legally blind.

On December 19, 2012, Baltimore Circuit Judge Gale E. Rasin accepted Kinyua’s plea of guilty but not criminally responsible on separate allegations that he attacked Joshua Ceasar with a baseball bat wrapped in barbed wire. Kinyua apologized for the May beating.

Judge Gale E. Rasin said:

“The evidence is overwhelming that Mr. Kinyua was suffering from a mental illness at the time of the offense,”

and committed him indefinitely to a psychiatric hospital. The judge stated a team of doctors and an administrative law judge would have to agree to his release.

At that hearing, Kinyua entered his own plea and apologized, saying:

“My deepest apology and sympathies will not be able to cover up what happened,”

Kinyua then stated:

“I don't forgive myself,”

He took two psychotropic drugs.

Rasin described Kinyua’s mental illness and stated that Kinyua had been suffering from paranoid schizophrenia and believed reptilian aliens were coming to destroy Earth.

Rasin also said that Kinyua had sought student counseling at Morgan State after exhibiting episodes of bizarre and violent behavior, meeting with a counselor for an hour but leaving without follow-up or recommendations.

Julie A. Drake, a former city prosecutor who became a professor at the University of Maryland School of Social Work, stated:

“It is rare for prosecutors to contest a medical determination that a defendant is not criminally responsible.”

She also said:

“Normally, the state accepts whatever the court medical services recommends,”

and:

“The judge will then find that the defendant is not criminally responsible, and the defendant is committed to the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene.”

She described conditional release and stated:

“If at any point he’s medicated sufficiently or reaches a stage where the facility believes he is no longer a danger to himself or others, he’s released, but it’s a conditional release,”

and:

“That’s a little bit like probation, and the defendant is required to take his medication, check in for counseling.”

Status of the murder case and prosecutor statements

On April 18, 2013, Harford County’s top prosecutor said he did not have enough evidence to show that Kinyua was criminally responsible for killing a family friend and eating his organs. The statement cleared the way for the court to be presented the hospital’s findings from the separate assault case.

Cassilly said that prosecutors would push forward with a charge of first-degree murder that had been delayed by competency questions. He stated he had psychiatric reports from Clifton T. Perkins Hospital in both the assault and murder cases and had had an independent expert review Kinyua’s mental state. He said:

“we have basically the same diagnosis”

and:

“To dispute the Perkins findings, I need some sort of evidence,”

and:

“I don’t have any opinion that would dispute their findings.”

Kinyua faced first-degree murder and a weapons charge in Harford after he allegedly told police that he had killed and dismembered 37-year-old Kujoe Bonsafo Agyei-Kodie while out on bail for the assault.

A plea hearing was scheduled for June 24 in Harford County.

At Kinyua’s hearing in the city case, Judge Gale E. Rasin committed him indefinitely. Prosecutors stated that delayed hearings in the Harford County case would likely proceed in January if the acceptance of the plea required competency.

By August 16, 2012, Cassilly said that prosecutors had reviewed a report from Perkins and agreed to Kinyua’s designation without a court hearing.

Evidence described in relation to the alleged murder

Police said Kinyua told detectives that he killed Agyei-Kodie and ate his heart and part of his brain.

Authorities said that Agyei-Kodie’s severed head and hands were found in the men’s Harford County home, and more remains were left in a trash container outside a church.

Kinyua also directed police to Towne Baptist Church on Trimble Road, where the rest of Agyei-Kodie’s remains were found in a trash container on the property.

Investigators were said to have found the remains under a blanket in metal tins in the laundry room, and later located the head and hands on the main floor of the house after a search-and-seizure warrant.

Related assertions about warning signs and prior incidents

Several accounts described erratic behavior and bizarre statements before the alleged Harford County killing, including references to “mass human sacrifices” and “ethnic cleansing” on Facebook.

Kinyua was described as being dismissed from an ROTC program in January after an outburst. In May, he was arrested for allegedly fracturing a skull of a classmate with a baseball bat in the separate assault incident, leaving the victim blind in one eye.

A statement quoted a campus police report describing Kinyua as a “Virginia Tech waiting to happen.”

Kinyua’s mother and father discussed the assault charge and bail on Facebook, including a post stating:

“Our son, Alexander Kimanthi Kinyua, was arrested on Saturday, May 19, for being involved in a fight in his dormitory room at Morgan State University. The charge against him is “1st Degree Assault and Excessive Endangerment of Life”. His bail has been set for US $220,000.00. In order to get him the best defense possible, we need to secure an attorney who will take his case and leave no stone unturned.”

A separate Facebook post attributed to Kinyua included:

“HEAR ME OUT BUTCHERS: ARE YOU STRONG ENOUGH TO ENDURE RITUAL HBCU MASS HUMAN SACRIFICES AROUND THE COUNTRY AND STILL BE ABLE TO FUNCTION AS HUMAN BEINGS? IT'S BEEN ALL TOO TRAGIC WITH THE DUAL UNIVERSITY SHOOTINGS AT VIRGINIA TECH, AND OTHER PAST UNIVERSITY KILLINGS ACROSS THE COUNTRY. NOW FOR A TWIST: ETHNIC CLEANSING IS THE POLICY, STRATEGY AND TACTICS THAT WILL AFFECT YOU, DIRECTLY OR INDIRECTLY IN THE COMING MONTHS. THIS IS THE BRUTAL BASIS, AN EVIL & TERRIFYING METHOD OF THIS DEATH CULTS.”

A plea posted online for help raising legal funds stated:

“In order to get him the best defense possible, we need to secure an attorney who will take his case and leave no stone unturned.”

The post also stated that a fundraising event was scheduled at the International Christian Community Church in Baltimore.

People

• Alexander Kinyua — defendant; engineering student at Morgan State University
• Kujoe Bonsafo Agyei-Kodie — victim; Ghanaian exchange student staying with Kinyua family pending deportation; 37 years old
• Antony Kinyua — father of the defendant; professor at Morgan State University; reported Agyei-Kodie missing and contacted police
• Jarrod Kinyua — brother of the defendant; found a human head and two human hands in metal tins in the basement
• Joshua Ceasar — victim in a separate assault case; left legally blind; 22 at the time of the December 19 hearing
• Joseph I. Cassilly — Harford County State’s Attorney
• Donald Daneman — defense attorney for Kinyua
• Lynne McChrystal — defense attorney at first court appearance requesting reasonable bail
• Trenna Manners — Assistant State’s Attorney at first court appearance
• Judge John L. Dunnigan — judge at Kinyua’s first Harford District Court appearance
• Judge Gale E. Rasin — Baltimore Circuit Judge who accepted the guilty but not criminally responsible plea in the separate case and committed Kinyua indefinitely
• Julie A. Drake — former prosecutor and law professor
• Dr. David Helsel — Perkins’ superintendent
• Clinton Coleman — Morgan State spokesman
• Monica Worrell — county police spokeswoman
• Jesse Bane — Harford County Sheriff
• Daniel Ziolkowski — resident who reported seeing Kinyua trimming bushes with a machete
• Kathy Ziolkowski — resident who spoke about what she said Kinyua’s brother told her
• Stephen Copeland — senior; quoted regarding word spreading on campus
• Mark Cheshire — spokesman for the state’s attorney’s office
• Richard Boucher — attorney quoted in bail hearing discussion
• Harold Madison — described as a rotary club president who helped post bond
• Vincent Robinson — described as a university athletics booster who helped post bond
• JoAnn Rice — posted a vacant property to help make bond
• Lieutenant colonel James Lewis — ROTC professor at Morgan State and head of the ROTC program
• James Holt — friend of the victim quoted about Agyei-Kodie meeting Antony Kinyua

Aftermath

Morgan State established a chief public safety officer position in the wake of the killing.

Kinyua underwent mental health evaluations and remained indefinitely committed to a Maryland mental institution.

Kinyua’s father returned to teaching.

Timeline

• May 19, 2012 — Kinyua’s mother posted that Alexander Kinyua was arrested for being involved in a fight in his dormitory room at Morgan State University and that the charge was “1st Degree Assault and Excessive Endangerment of Life”; bail was set at US $220,000.00.
• May 25, 2012 — Kujoe Bonsafo Agyei-Kodie was reported missing by Kinyua’s father.
• May 31, 2012 — Police were reported to have gone to the Kinyua residence after being contacted by Kinyua’s brother; investigators found remains in metal tins in the basement.
• June 20, 2012 — Kinyua was moved to Clifton T. Perkins Hospital from the Harford County Detention Center.
• August 13, 2012 — Cassilly said prosecutors reviewed a report from Clifton T.
• August 16, 2012 — Kinyua was declared incompetent to stand trial.
• December 19, 2012 — Judge Gale E. Rasin accepted Kinyua’s guilty but not criminally responsible plea in the separate assault case and committed him indefinitely to a psychiatric hospital.
• April 18, 2013 — Harford County State’s Attorney Joseph I. Cassilly said there was not enough evidence to show Kinyua was criminally responsible, clearing the way to present the hospital’s findings.
• June 24, 2012 — A plea hearing was scheduled in Harford County Circuit Court.

Other details

Kinyua had been accused of dismembering and cannibalizing Kujoe Bonsafo Agyei-Kodie, and a prosecutor said he would push forward with the murder case and attempt to prove Kinyua was in control of his actions at the time of Agyei-Kodie’s death.

Cassilly said he was paying a private psychiatrist to review findings from the state's psychiatrists and questioned whether Kinyua understood his actions when disposing of parts of Agyei-Kodie in a dumpster.

A criminal law professor, Byron Warnken, said:

“Another psychiatrist isn't just going to say, 'OK, fine, if you want him to be [criminally responsible], we'll go that way,'”

and:

“I assume that a psychiatrist is going to have enough professional integrity that they're not going to do that.”