Hospital Worker Accused of Making Meals From Human Remains Taken From Workplace, Cemeteries

A horror story has unfolded in Hungary, where police have arrested a 30-year-old hospital orderly in Budapest under suspicion of the illegal use of human remains.

According to statements released by Hungary's National Bureau of Investigation, the suspect confessed to exhuming bodies and stealing body parts to cook and consume them. Authorities received a tip-off that led to his arrest on June 17 and have since nicknamed him the "Hungarian Hannibal.”

The male suspect was employed as a hospital orderly in Budapest. Official statements note that he is highly passionate about anatomy and pathology and regularly dissected animals.

Investigators believe he harvested human remains from his hospital workplace and by digging up graves in abandoned cemeteries across both Hungary and neighboring Slovakia.

During interrogation, the suspect admitted he was "particularly attracted to human body parts" and confirmed he prepared and consumed them as food in various ways.

A raid on the suspect's apartment revealed a disturbing collection of hidden remains: A complete lower leg, a human hand, a brain, and multiple skulls; a reconstructed human face prepared directly from facial skin; sundry skeletal remains packed away inside a suitcase; and a heart stored inside a jar, which forensic teams are actively testing to determine if it is of human or animal origin.

"During the search, [investigators found a] prepared human face, facial skin, bones stored in a suitcase, a complete lower leg, brain, hand, head, skulls and a heart [in] a jar," police wrote. Authorities were unsure at the time of the release's publication whether the heart was of human or animal origin.

The suspect remains in custody while Hungary's National Bureau of Investigation continues its probe.

Police have confiscated his computers, laptops, tablets and mobile phones for digital forensics.

Medical and forensic experts are examining all recovered body parts, and authorities have stated that the scope of criminal charges may expand as the identities and origins of the victims are uncovered.

And while the Hungarian suspect has not yet been accused of murder, he evokes other convicted criminals who have been.

Armin Meiwes, a German man known as "The Rotenburg Cannibal,” infamously killed and ate a willing victim in 2001.

Like the Budapest suspect, the morbid details shocked the public, inspiring infamous music and intense pop-culture fascination.

America’s own Jeffrey Dahmer was known as the Milwaukee Cannibal, who also had a morbid obsession with hoarding and consuming human remains.

In a parallel story, 34-year-old Jonathan Christian Gerlach, a Pennsylvania man, was arrested in April 2026 after police found over 100 sets of stolen human remains (including children's bones and mummified bodies) stashed in his home and storage units.