Judge Adds Rape Charge for Man Who ‘Killed Girlfriend and Ate Her Heart, Brain, Lung’

The Indiana ex-con on trial for murdering and eating his ex-girlfriend will be charged with raping the victim as well, a judge has ruled.

On Monday, A Clark County judge ruled that the prosecution’s argument to charge Joseph Oberhansley, 34, with rape was valid.

Oberhansley is already facing charges of murder and abuse of a corpse following the death of 46-year-old Tammy Jo Blanton on September 11. The request to add the rape charge was filed last month and will pave the way for a possible death penalty in the case.

Adding rape to the list of charges provides prosecution with the “aggravated circumstance” they need to seek the death penalty under Indiana law.

Oberhansley has already confessed to stabbing Blanton, cooking her body and then eating some of her organs, including her heart, brain and lung.

Oberhansley, an ex-con, was convicted of manslaughter back in 1998 following the shooting death of his 17-year-old girlfriend Sabrina Elder near Salt lake City, Utah just a few days after the birth of their son.

He was discharged from prison on July 23. Just eight days later, Oberhansley was in trouble with the law again when he was arrested on charges of criminal recklessness and resisting law enforcement after a car chase.

It was Blanton who posted Oberhansley’s bail in July. A little more than a month later, Oberhansley murdered his then ex-girlfriendafter a fight.