Daniel Paul Rakowitz is an American murderer and

cannibal Cannibalism is the act of consuming another individual of the same species as food. Cannibalism is a common ecological interaction in the animal kingdom and has been recorded in more than 1,500 species. Human cannibalism is well documented, b ...

. He was born in 1960 in

Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri Fort Leonard Wood is a U.S. Army training installation located in the Missouri Ozarks. The main gate is located on the southern boundary of The City of St. Robert. The post was created in December 1940 and named in honor of General Leonard Wo ...

, where his father was a criminal investigator for the U.S. Army. The Rakowitz family moved to

Rockport, Texas Rockport is a city in Aransas County, Texas, United States. The population was 8,766 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat. Rockport is adjacent to the town of Fulton, and many refer to the combined communities as "Rockport-Fulton"; howeve ...

sometime in the late 1970s. Daniel Rakowitz graduated from Rockport-Fulton High School in 1980. Although it is commonly reported that Rakowitz graduated from Rockport, he actually attended and graduated from high school in

Refugio, Texas Refugio ( ) is a town in Refugio County, of which it is the county seat, in the U.S. state of Texas. The population was 2,890 as of the 2010 Census. Refugio is the birthplace of Baseball Hall of Fame member Nolan Ryan. Geography Refugio is lo ...

. He moved to

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the U ...

around 1985. Rakowitz, an eccentric well known to his East Village neighbors as a marijuana dealer and owner of a pet rooster, founded his own religion - the Church of 966. In 1989, he walked around the East Village around

Tompkins Square Park Tompkins Square Park is a public park in the Alphabet City portion of East Village, Manhattan, New York City. The square-shaped park, bounded on the north by East 10th Street, on the east by Avenue B, on the south by East 7th Street, and o ...

bragging to some of the people he believed were his disciples that he had killed the woman he believed to be his live-in girlfriend (but who was actually a roommate), Monika Beerle, a

Swiss Swiss may refer to: * the adjectival form of Switzerland * Swiss people Places * Swiss, Missouri *Swiss, North Carolina * Swiss, West Virginia * Swiss, Wisconsin Other uses * Swiss-system tournament, in various games and sports *Swiss Internati ...

student at the

Martha Graham Center of Contemporary Dance Martha Graham Center of Contemporary Dance is located in New York City and is the headquarters to the Martha Graham School of Contemporary Dance and the Martha Graham Dance Company, which is the oldest continually performing dance company in the ...

, and a dancer at Billy's Topless. Several of Rakowitz's friends disputed the notion that Monika was his girlfriend. By his own confession, he dismembered her body in the bathtub, boiled the parts, and served some of her remains in the form of a soup to the homeless in nearby Tompkins Square Park. He said that he had boiled her head and made

soup Soup is a primarily liquid food, generally served warm or hot (but may be cool or cold), that is made by combining ingredients of meat or vegetables with stock, milk, or water. Hot soups are additionally characterized by boiling soli ...

from her brain. He had tasted it and liked it, and thereafter he referred to himself as a cannibal. At least one of the people to whom he told his tale went to police. Rakowitz was arrested shortly thereafter, and led the police to the

Port Authority Bus Terminal The Port Authority Bus Terminal (colloquially known as the Port Authority and by its acronym PABT) is a bus terminal located in Manhattan in New York City. It is the busiest bus terminal in the world by volume of traffic, serving about 8,000 bus ...

storage area, where he had stored her skull and teeth. On February 22, 1991, a New York jury found Rakowitz, then 31 years old, not guilty by reason of insanity for the killing of Monika Beerle on August 19, 1989. In 2004, a jury found Rakowitz no longer dangerous but decided that he is still mentally ill and should remain at the

Kirby Forensic Psychiatric Center Kirby Forensic Psychiatric Center is a maximum-security facility for the mentally ill on Wards Island in New York City, operated by the New York State Office of Mental Health as one of two psychiatric hospitals in the state that treat felony pat ...

on New York City's

Wards Island Randalls Island (sometimes called Randall's Island) and Wards Island are conjoined islands, collectively called Randalls and Wards Islands, in New York County, New York City,

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rakowitz, Daniel 1960 births Living people People from Rockport, Texas American cannibals People acquitted by reason of insanity People acquitted of murder American murderers People from Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri People from the East Village, Manhattan