A man who is reportedly obsessed with zombies, killed a casino-goer and talked about eating him.
32-year-old Donald Ray Cherry was obsessed with zombies. So much so, the Montana man has been charged with the murder of a casino-goer after he decapitated him and said he planned to eat his brains. Cherry was charged along with his accomplice, Jeffery Haverty, 35, for killing Myron Wesley Knight, 41, in October 2017. He has also been charged with evidence tampering for allegedly hiding Knights body parts and belongings he had on him at the time.
Most recently, Cherry was charged with intimidation. During a visit from his girlfriend in January, while Cherry was in jail, he reportedly told her, winking, “I know you don’t remember right. The only thing that makes a witness is there’s two people saying the same thing. So, as long as we say the same thing, then that’s all that matters, okay?”
Cherry’s girlfriend told investigators she remembered him talking about eating Knight’s brain, which is something Haverty had also mentioned. The girl added Cherry “has a fascination/obsession with zombies,” according to the police report.
Cherry’s new charges are punishable by up to ten years each in prison, and he faces a possibility of life in prison on the homicide charge. Haverty pleaded guilty in June to the murder after he was charged with intentional homicide. Haverty’s attorneys and prosecutors have agreed to fifty years in prison as part of a plea deal.
In a recent statement, Haverty also told police he had buried the knife used in the murder and had thrown the hammer in the Yellowstone River. He also said he’d washed his clothes before police located and arrested him, and that he and Cherry had smoked meth after leaving the casino. Authorities later found a knife in the area Haverty had said he left it and the Montana State Crime Lab is testing blood found on the weapon.
According to official reports, on the night that Knight was killed, he had just won $120 at the Montana Lil’s Casino. After winning, he asked a casino employee to hold on to the money before leaving with the two men. He also said that the two should be held responsible if something were to happen to him.
Haverty then allegedly robbed Knight of the remaining $6 he still had on him and began decapitating him in a transient camp. Cherry took part in the decapitation after returning from a gas station with his girlfriend after the crime was already in progress. Cherry’s girlfriend said the decapitation was part of the men’s plan to dispose of the body. However, they had planned to burn the remains but never did.
Knight was found three weeks later by two individuals walking along a dirt path, and an autopsy performed by state medical examiner Dr. Robert Kurtzman found multiple blunt force traumas, including that the man had been severely beaten. Kurtzman said Knight was likely still alive when the men started to cut off his head, which was ultimately found approximately thirty feet from his body. He suffered significantly as his life was taken.
Sources:
Montana man charged with beheading allegedly wanted to eat victim’s brain
Court documents: Decapitation defendant planned to eat victim’s brain
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