A KILLER who attempted to “heal his brain” by microwave-cooking and eating chunks of his 70-year-old victim’s body has been given a life sentence.
David M. Flaget, an employee of his family’s Idaho ranch, was killed in September 2021, and James David Russell, 40, was found guilty of the crime.
Russell was detained when deputies from the Bonner County Sheriff’s Office investigated a call about a strange death in Clark Fork and discovered the victim’s body parts.
Police said that when surprised deputies investigated the home they found a bloody duffel bag, a glass bowl with blood in it, a microwave, and a knife.
An affidavit of probable cause states that Russell believed he could “fix his brain by chopping off parts of flesh” to heal himself.
When deputies arrived on the scene, they discovered Flaget lying on his back in the truck’s passenger seat and unconscious.
After officers from the Bonner County Sheriff’s Office responded to a complaint about a strange death in Clark Fork and discovered the victim’s body parts, Russell was taken into custody.
Shocked deputies discovered a microwave, a glass bowl filled with blood, a bloody duffel bag, and a knife when they investigated the home, according to the police.
Russell allegedly believed that he could “fix his brain by chopping off sections of flesh,” according to a probable cause document.
When deputies arrived on the scene, they discovered Flaget unconscious and upside down in the truck’s passenger seat.
Russell eventually gave up and allowed himself to be brought into jail following a brief standoff.
Autopsy results showed Blunt head trauma caused Flaget’s death.
Cannibalism and first-degree murder were the initial charges brought against Russell.
After reaching an agreement with the prosecution, the first-degree murder charge was reduced to second-degree murder and the cannibalism allegation was dismissed.
The punishment of life in prison without the possibility of parole, according to Judge Barbara Buchanan, was imposed to safeguard both Russell and society.
The judge noted that Russell had a number of mental diseases, including schizophrenia and psychoses.
She added that in the year prior to the murder, Russell had stopped taking his medicine and had been more aggressive.
“In this case, as Mr. Marshall said, mental illness is in a way a mitigating factor, but it is also an aggravating factor,” the judge said, according to KREM2.
“Because the court has no certainty, can conceive that society can be safe unless Mr. Russell is confined, no way that Mr. Russell can be safe.”
Russell spoke to the court during his sentencing and apologized to the victim’s family.
“I just wanted to say I am very sorry,” Russell said. “I just want you guys to know that I was a normal person once.”
