- Sign up for our US Editor's Picks newsletter for the best exclusive stories
- READ: Extraordinary twist in killer dad Chris Watts' prison love life after jail makeout sessions with new wife were exposed
- See more Daily Mail on Google - save us as a Preferred Source
A notorious cannibal famously dubbed the 'Butcher of Tompkins Square Park' has reportedly been moved to a lower-security wing of a psychiatric facility, leading some hospital employees to speculate that he is one step closer to freedom.
uncertain
he → sign → freedom
Daniel Rakowitz, 65, stood trial in 1991 for killing and dismembering his roommate, Monika Beerle, then disgustingly feeding her remains to homeless people in the summer of 1989.
asserted
Rakowitz → stand → 1989
He was found not criminally responsible for her murder by reason of insanity and committed to the maximum-security Kirby Forensic Psychiatric Center on Ward's Island.
asserted
He → find → Island
However, sources recently revealed to the New York Post that Rakowitz was moved to the Manhattan Psychiatric Center two years ago.
asserted
Rakowitz → reveal → Center
The facility is also on Ward's Island but has less security.
asserted
facility → have → security
An anonymous source told the publication that the center is 'letting people out prematurely every day,' and speculated that 'he may be one of those that end up getting out.
uncertain
that → tell → those
'They [hospital administration] kept it a soft opening, like letting people know just before they moved him,' the source said, adding, 'they’re trying to get us used to it.'
asserted
us → keep → it
They said that hospital staff were shocked to see Rakowitz roaming around the lower-security wing.
asserted
Rakowitz → say → wing
Patients at Kirby come to the facility through the courts, while the Manhattan Psychiatric Center offers inpatient and outpatient services.
asserted
Center → come → services
Daniel Rakowitz, now 65, was found not guilty by reason of insanity in 1991 for the murder and dismemberment of his roommate
One witness testified during his trial that he fed Beerle's remains to homeless people in Tompkins Square Park.
asserted
he → find → Park
He is pictured in the park above in 1987 arguing with an unidentified homeless man
Newspaper clippings said at the time that a holdout juror was responsible for the 'not guilty' verdict
The Manhattan Psychiatric Center also offers transitional living for patients after they are admitted to the hospital.
The Office of Mental Health, which oversees the state-run facilities, did not confirm Rakowitz's move, citing privacy laws.
asserted
which → picture → laws
The Daily Mail has also reached out to the agency for comment.
asserted
Mail → reach → comment
Rakowitz petitioned the New York Supreme Court to transfer to a less secure facility in 2010, but was denied and ordered to stay at Kirby.
asserted
Rakowitz → petition → Kirby
Former Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance said at the time that the court's decision 'continues to protect the residents of New York.'
Rakowitz's case shocked the public when he was acquitted.
asserted
he → say → public
The View co-host Sunny Hostin revealed earlier this month that she was the lone holdout juror during a panel discussion on the Lindsay Clancy case.
asserted
she → reveal → case
The jury was ready to deliver a 'not guilty' verdict due to the defense's argument that she was suffering from postpartum psychosis; however, a lone juror prevented the decision, and the case was declared a mistrial.
asserted
case → deliver → decision
'The reason I feel so strongly about this holdout juror is because I was a holdout juror in a case, in the Daniel Rakowitz case,' Hostin revealed.
asserted
Hostin → feel → case
'It was because I saw clearly that he was psychotic.
asserted
he → see → ?
He did not mean to kill her, and once he killed her, he panicked.
asserted
he → mean → her
He chopped up her body parts.
asserted
He → chop → parts
Tried to commit the perfect crime... and he fed her body parts to the unhoused,' she said.
asserted
she → try → unhoused
Rakowitz was a known character in the East Village for selling marijuana and walking around with a live chicken, pictured above.
asserted
Rakowitz → know → chicken
He has been held in a maximum-security facility, but has reportedly been moved to another center on Ward's Island
Hostin recalled that jury deliberations were intense, and one of her fellow jurors threw a chair at her amidst a heated discussion.
uncertain
one → hold → discussion
The co-host's claims were later called into question when unearthed newspaper clippings cited the holdout juror as an unemployed man who wanted the trial to continue so he could be paid and get free meals.
uncertain
he → call → meals
The New York Times reported at the time that one holdout juror convinced the others not to deliver a guilty verdict.
asserted
juror → report → verdict
'We don't think he intended to kill her.
asserted
he → think → her
But once he did, he dismembered her body in an effort to commit the perfect crime,' juror Asuncion Cummings was quoted in the Times after the case concluded.
asserted
case → do → Times
After jurors delivered their decision, Rakowitz thanked them and said he hoped 'someday we can smoke a joint together.
asserted
we → deliver → joint
But I'll be getting out soon and I'll sell a lot of marijuana so I can bring to justice the people who actually committed this crime,' he added.
asserted
he → get → crime
Rakowitz testified during the trial that he would rather go to prison than a mental hospital because he did not want to be medicated.
asserted
he → testify → hospital
He denied killing Beerle, who was a 29-year-old dance student, but did confess to dismembering her, then bleaching and boiling her bones.
One witness testified that Rakowitz served a homeless man at the park soup that contained a human finger.
asserted
that → kill → finger
Before the nauseating crime, Rakowitz was a known character in the East Village neighborhood for selling marijuana and walking around with a live chicken.
asserted
Rakowitz → know → chicken
He called himself the 'God of Marijuana.'
asserted
He → call → Marijuana
The Aporia
