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SHREWSBURY, Mass. – In what officials are calling a gruesome murder, an elderly Shrewsbury man allegedly tore off his wife's arm and ate her flesh.
Shrewsbury Police responded to 32 F Shrewsbury Green on Thursday around 4:30 p.m. to find Yuee Zhou, 73, dead in a rear bedroom with her left arm "stripped" of its flesh and fingers torn off.
Her husband, 79-year-old Jieming Liu, was found in a rocking chair with blood on his mouth, face and clothes with bits of human flesh on the surrounding floor, according to officials.
Worcester District Attorney Joseph D. Early Jr. said he has never seen anything like this, "only in the movies."
During his murder arraignment, both the D.A. and Liu's attorney, Michael Hussey, agreed that Liu should undergo a competency evaluation to determine if he can be held criminally responsible.
Liu was held and will be transported to Bridgewater State Hospital for a mental health evaluation.
According to Early, Liu did make comments to police that this was done in self-defense after being arrested.
"I would take anything my client says with a grain of salt," Hussey said. "He doesn't seem to have any recognition of what's going on here. This is a very tragic case. There's no question in my mind that he suffers from dementia."
The couple arrived in the country from China in November of 2011. Their son checks on them daily and found them on Thursday during his visit. His son told attorneys that he believes his father suffers from Alzheimer's.
Early said the state Office of the Chief Medical Examiner will perform an autopsy on Zhou and a cause of death will not be known until it is completed.
Comments (3)
This is a murder. There is a grieving family. Please be respectful in your comments. I just deleted several.
Jennifer Lord Paluzzi
Managing Editor
Do we really need funny comments on this? A woman DIED and her family has to go on trying to help an elderly, very sick father. There is nothing funny about it
Pray for all.