commentary by Patrick H. Moore
It’s well known that sometimes a guy gets hungry. When you get hungry, however, it’s generally assumed that murdering your girlfriend and consuming her organs after cutting them out of her still-warm flesh is not appropriate behavior, even if you think you are actually a former NFL player named Zeus Brown and that you played for the Baltimore Ravens and the Cleveland Browns prior to “getting hungry”.
You’re not buying it?
Well, neither am I, with one caveat. Although our suspect, whose name is actually Joseph Oberhansley (Joe O. for short), probably doesn’t believe he is NFL baller Zeus Brown (great name, by the way), he may nonetheless not be quite right in the head, not that a positive diagnosis of certifiably crazy is liable to do him much good in this case given the hideous nature of his alleged crime.
What did Joe O. do?
The Crimesider Staff at WLKY Louisville writes that Joe O., 33, brutally murdered his ex-girlfriend, Tammy Jo Blanton, 46, last Thursday and then ate at least part of her lungs, heart and brain after cooking them. Bloody plates, pans, and utensils were found in Ms. Blanton’s kitchen.
On Monday, Oberhansley, 33, made his first court appearance, maintaining his innocence. But CBS affiliate WLKY reports that (according to) newly released court documents he confessed to police September 11, just hours after the body of Tammy Jo Blanton, 46, was found.
In the probable cause affidavit, which was filed Monday, Joe O. admits that he broke into Blanton’s home and stabbed her multiple times, killing her.
The affidavit also states that after Oberhansley killed Blanton, he removed parts of her skull and brain, heart and part of a lung, which he then cooked and ate.
So this is really nothing new. Every so often a hungry guy kills his estranged girlfriend and cooks and eats her organs.
But what really got the courtroom buzzing was the fact that while addressing the court on Monday, Joe O. calmly told the judge that police have the wrong guy. He’s not the killer/eater. He can’t be because his name is Zeus Brown, a former NFL baller who played for the Ravens and the Browns. And then, in a truly novel twist, Joe O. told the judge he’s not sure if he’s a U.S. citizen.
“I don’t buy it. I think there is a motive and a reason for what you saw in the courtroom today and I don’t believe he really believes he’s Zeus Brown,” said Clark County Chief Deputy Prosecutor Jeremy Mull.
Well, yeah… The motive and reason is probably that Joe O. is trying to convince all and sundry that he’s stark raving mad.
Clark County Prosecutor Steve Stewart responded in similar fashion, stating that Joe O’s attorney may file a motion to determine whether he’s mentally competent to stand trial.
“I think he may have just been playing games but it would only be a guess,” Stewart said.
Notwithstanding Joe O’s actual identity, Stewart is understandably disturbed by the actual crime.
“After being a prosecutor for so long you think you’ve seen everything. This is one of those cases where I’ve never seen this, where a defendant is alleged to have removed and eaten flesh of a murder victim.”
Ms. Blanton’s neighbor Edna Hall observed Joe O and Blanton arguing Wednesday night. She also observed the suspect putting clothes into his car around 9:30 p.m.
There’s just something about us guys when we don’t get out way. Is it something in the air or are we just depraved by nature? In any event, the court documents state that at 2:52 a.m. Thursday (5 and ½ hours after Hall saw them arguing), Ms. Blanton (in obvious fear) called police to report that Joe O. was trying to get into her home.
So the police had to come and told Joe O. to leave, which he did, for a while.
“Ms. Blanton talked to officers and said they had had a recent fight and she was breaking up with him. She had changed the locks and wanted him off the property,” said Jeffersonville Police Detective Todd Hollis.
What d’ya do when your girlfriend is rejecting you and she calls the police on you and they tell you to scram?
Well, that’s easy. You turn to good ol’ Mom. You wake her up out of a sound sleep and plead your case. In fact, according to the probable cause affidavit, after leaving Ms. Blanton’s residence, Joe O. woke his mother up around 3:30 a.m.
So poor Mom got the whole sob story. Not only was Joe O. miffed over the fact Ms. Blanton had changed the locks; he was also upset about his job and financial situation.
Why do we hungry guys feel so goddamned sorry for ourselves?
So poor Mom sat in Joe O’s car and spoke with him for several minutes before going back into the house and presumably going back to sleep.
This was a mistake. You never leave your madman son stewing in his car in front of your house at 3:30 am after his girlfriend has dumped him and changed the locks. It’s just asking for trouble. You made the mistake of bringing Zeus into the world; now you’re stuck with him.
* * * * *
Naturally, Ms. Blanton didn’t show up for work the next morning. A co-worker called her house and a man answered claiming he was the victim’s brother. Nobody believed him; perhaps Ms. Blanton had been telling her co-workers that she was going to have to ditch her psycho boyfriend.
When police arrived at Blanton’s home on Locust Street, they noticed signs of forced entry at the back door.
The man who answered the door identified himself as “Joe” but said he didn’t have identification. Officers noticed a fresh injury on Oberhansley’s right hand and he was slow and deceptive when answering questions, according to the affidavit.
Growing suspicious, the officers took physical control of Oberhansley and found a knuckled-grip folding knife with the blade extended. It was covered with blood and hair. Yucchhh!
They found Ms. Blanton’s in a bathtub, covered with a tarp. Her skull and chest had been cut open.
Jesus God! This fool might as well be Jeffrey Dahmer.
According to the M.E., Blanton died of multiple blunt sharp force traumas to the head, neck and torso.
Joe O. is charged with murder, abuse of a corpse and breaking and entering.
This is not the first time he has been in a jam. In 1998, Oberhansley was convicted in Utah of killing his 17-year-old girlfriend and shooting his mother. (Is this the same mother he woke up at 3:30 am before returning to Ms. Blanton’s house to do his foul deeds?) Joe O. was released in 2012.
Earlier this summer, he was arrested on allegations he strangled someone and led police on a (merry) chase.
When his bond was lowered, it was Ms. Blanton who paid to get him out.
What a generous and foolish lady. It has cost her everything!
Furthermore, I’m quite certain Joe O. is not actually Zeus Brown. Poor Zeus died of a diabetic ailment in 2011.