OKLAHOMA CITY, April 17, 2006

Would-Be Cannibal Guilty In Girl's Slaying

Okla. Man Raped 10-Year-Old, Severed Her Head To Indulge Cannibalistic Fantasy

    • Kevin Ray Underwood, 26, shown in this undated photograph provided by the McClain County Sheriffs Office, was being held Saturday, April 15, 2006, on a first-degree murder complaint in the death of Jamie Rose Bolin, 10.

      Kevin Ray Underwood, 26, shown in this undated photograph provided by the McClain County Sheriffs Office, was being held Saturday, April 15, 2006, on a first-degree murder complaint in the death of Jamie Rose Bolin, 10.  (AP Photo)

    • An undated family photo of Jamie Rose Bolin, who friends called shy and sweet.

      An undated family photo of Jamie Rose Bolin, who friends called shy and sweet.  (AP)

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(AP)  A jury found a man guilty of first-degree murder Friday in the killing of a 10-year-old girl, reaching its decision within minutes the day after hearing his macabre videotaped confession.

Kevin Underwood, a former grocery stocker who claimed Internet pornography stoked his cannibalistic fantasies, showed no emotion as the verdict was announced. Family members of the victim, Jamie Rose Bolin, patted each other and shook hands.

The girl's body was found in a plastic tub in Underwood's apartment in April 2006. Jurors had heard his detailed videotaped confession in court Thursday.

Judge Candace Blalock told jurors to return to court Monday morning for the penalty phase. Prosecutors have said they intend to seek the death penalty, while the defense has said it will seek to spare his life.

Deputies led Underwood, 28, away in handcuffs once jurors had left the courtroom.

Rose Fox, Jamie's grandmother, said after the verdict that she was originally against the death penalty in the case, but has now changed her mind.

"He made his choice," Fox said. "He's a monster in human form."

"I was for mercy. And then when I found out what he really did to her ... . He showed her no mercy."

Jurors began deliberating following closing arguments in which Cleveland County District Attorney Greg Mashburn predicted it would take jurors longer to pick a foreman than to determine guilt.

"It's the worst of the worst," Mashburn said. "His plan is to butcher someone like an animal."

In his closing argument, Defense attorney Matthew Haire did not dispute Underwood's guilt. But he called him "a lonely, very troubled, reclusive young man" and accused prosecutors of overwhelming jurors with gruesome evidence.

In the confession, Underwood said he lured the girl, his upstairs neighbor, into his apartment in Purcell, hit her with a cutting board, smothered her with his hands, sexually assaulted the body and nearly cut her head off as part of a fantasy involving cannibalism.

"I wanted to know what it tasted like, and just the thought of eating someone was appealing to me," Underwood said in the confession.

Underwood also said such fantasies began about the time he started taking the antidepressant Lexapro. Defense attorneys plan to call witnesses during the penalty phase on his use of the drug.




© MMVIII The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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by ralan40 March 1, 2008 10:59 PM EST
"Note that once again an anti-depressant was involved in a bizarre murder...Lexapro, this time. VT, NI, Columbine.....


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Posted by Prinzowhales at 02:56 PM : Mar 01, 2008

Keep pointing that out P.O.W, you won''t get any argument from me on that point...
..Don''t forget people freaking out on airplanes and road rage incidents...not too common of an occurance prior to widescale use of new antidepressent meds in the last 10-15 years.
And it always seems to happen when people stop taking the meds.
..funny how the mainsteam media outlets fail to stress the connection...oh wait, aren''t most comercials during nightly newscasts from drug companies??
....ah, it makes so much sense, now.
Reply to this comment
by mainemade March 1, 2008 6:48 PM EST
In this sickos world internet porn equals canabalism?
No I don''t think so...
Sick equals Sick in my world.
Defense wants to spare this creeps life? Why? If the lawyer''s succeed in sparing his life, I think they should be charged with some sort of crime themselves!
Reply to this comment
by prinzowhales March 1, 2008 5:56 PM EST
Note that once again an anti-depressant was involved in a bizarre murder...Lexapro, this time. VT, NI, Columbine.....
Reply to this comment
by godofredo29 March 1, 2008 4:49 PM EST
"He made his choice," Fox said. "He''s a monster in human form."

All that technical jargon...
Reply to this comment
by beehive21-2009 March 1, 2008 3:11 PM EST
Judging from whats already in the prisons,let him go in prison, hope he eats some of the lowlife already in prison for similar crimes,eat up boy.
Reply to this comment
by runningralph March 1, 2008 2:51 PM EST
The insanity plea should be taken away. When a murderer is judged to be insane he should be studied, analyzed and euthanized.
Reply to this comment
by retiredusaf3 March 1, 2008 1:58 PM EST
Should have taken him out back of the court house after the verdict and put a bullet in his head.
Reply to this comment
by dowjones20k March 1, 2008 1:45 PM EST
Fellow posters & Americans ...

If we have any intelligence or compassion for life .. is this not a case where this evil psychopath should be put to death?

Why would we incarcerate such filth?

Oh .. I remember .. so the psychologians can "study" him and try to interpret why he committed such a heinous crime or the do gooders can "spare" him?

Yeah right ... these egotistical morons can think they can figure out why any human would terrorize a child ... let the do gooders house him ....

My money is on capital punishment ... and this sick piece of garbage needs to go ...
Reply to this comment
by obeylaw March 1, 2008 12:39 PM EST
And we wonder why the prisons are so full. Plea deals should be banned and an eye for an eye should become the norm. Slapping criminals hands for violating our laws just continues to add to this countrys problems. The justice system is deteriorating at an accelerated speed. The innocenmt suffer and the taxpayers pay for it. There are no incentives to cause criminals to change their habits. They have nothing to fear and if caught are usually better off than they were in public life - but you and I pay for it - so will our descendents.

Wake up America!!!
Reply to this comment
by jegibbons March 1, 2008 12:26 PM EST
Sadly, this is a very troubling story in more ways than first meets the eye.

This monster did not just hatch out a cave or crawl pot from under a rock. He''s not some prehistoic neaderthal ancestor.
This dude lived among us for most of his twenty-six years! What''s up with that?
How do you spot and protect your kids against this?
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