BRIDGEPORT,
Conn. (AP) — A Florida man charged with hacking a homeless Connecticut
man to death with an ax and eating his brain was ordered Wednesday to
undergo a psychiatric evaluation.
Tyree Lincoln Smith, 35, stared
blankly as he stood with his hands chained behind his back during his
arraignment in Bridgeport Superior Court on a murder charge. It was his
first court appearance since he was returned to Connecticut on Tuesday
following his arrest last week in Lynn Haven, Fla.
The Connecticut
Post reports that the judge ordered the
evaluation at the urging of Smith's lawyer, Joseph Bruckmann, and
ordered him to remain in custody in lieu of $1 million bond. The next
hearing was scheduled for Feb. 14.
Smith, a Floridian who grew up
in Ansonia, Conn., is charged in the Dec. 15 killing of Angel Gonzalez,
whose body was found on the third floor of an abandoned home in
Bridgeport.
Prosecutor Donal Collimore urged the judge to set a high bond, describing the crime as "extremely heinous."
Talitcha Frazier, a sister-in-law of the victim, said she remembered seeing Smith asking for change on the street.
"I
think at the time I told him to get a job. I had no idea then that he
had killed my brother-in-law," Frasier said on the courthouse steps
after the hearing.
Smith came to the attention of authorities when
his cousin in Connecticut contacted Bridgeport police about Gonzalez's
slaying. She told detectives that Smith had arrived at her house Dec. 15
and said he wanted to "get blood on his hands" before going to the
abandoned home, where he used to live, according to an arrest warrant
affidavit.
The next day, Smith returned to the cousin's house with
blood on his pants, hands and an ax, the affidavit said. Police say he
told his cousin he had "gotten his blood."
Smith's cousin said he
told her that he was sleeping on a porch at the abandoned home when he
was awakened by another man and invited inside. Then Smith described
beating the man's face and head with the ax and collecting one of his
eyes and some of his brain matter, which he consumed in a nearby
cemetery, the affidavit said.
The cousin told detectives she
called Smith's mother, who suggested to police on Dec. 16 that they
check the abandoned home and that her son had "mental issues," the
affidavit said.
Smith had left Connecticut for Florida on Friday on a bus, the cousin told detectives.
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Information from: Connecticut Post
Tyree Lincoln Smith
