Jose Luis Calva was a self-proclaimed poet and dramatist.  But to the world he was ghoulishly known as the "cannibal", after police found cooked and seasoned bits of his girlfriend's corpse on a plate in his apartment.   Calva's story took another bizarre turn on Tuesday when he was found dead in his Mexico City prison cell, after apparently committing suicide.

His death closed a grisly chapter, but left several others un-penned --- he was in the midst of writing a book about himself when he used a belt to hang himself.   The book was to be titled, "The Cannibal Poet."

Calva was a suspect in at least three murders, all involving girlfriends of his or female acquaintances.

Police are now trying to discern just how he got the belt he used, and how he was able to hang himself while apparently under round-the-clock observation.

"Everything indicates it was suicide, but it is better to conduct a good investigation," Juan Garcia Ochoa, the city's assistant interior secretary said. 

Despite his moniker 'the cannibal', Calva claims he never ate his girlfriend, but carefully cleaned, cooked, and seasoned the flesh so he could feed it to dogs as a way to get rid of the evidence.

Moises Humberto Calderon, a lawyer defending Calva, said his client "was repentant" but did not seem suicidal during his stint behind bars.

"He didn't seem to have suicidal tendencies," Calderon said. "He was very enthused about (the book) idea. That was sort of what gave him a reason to live."

Related Links:

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New Evidence Surfaces In Gruesome Cannibal Murder Case