A Florida man charged with hacking a homelessConnecticut man to death with an ax and eating hisbrain was ordered Wednesday to undergo apsychiatric evaluation.
Tyree Lincoln Smith, 35, stared blankly as hestood with his hands chained behind his backduring his arraignment in Bridgeport SuperiorCourt on a murder charge. It was his first courtappearance since he was returned to Connecticut onTuesday following his arrest last week in LynnHaven, Fla.
The Connecticut Post (http://bit.ly/xAOpNn)reports that the judge ordered the evaluation atthe urging of Smith's lawyer, Joseph Bruckmann,and ordered him to remain in custody in lieu of $1million bond. The next hearing was scheduled forFeb. 14.
Smith, a Floridian who grew up in Ansonia, Conn.,is charged in the Dec. 15 killing of AngelGonzalez, whose body was found on the third floorof an abandoned home in Bridgeport.
Prosecutor Donal Collimore urged the judge to seta high bond, describing the crime as "extremelyheinous."
Talitcha Frazier, a sister-in-law of the victim,said she remembered seeing Smith asking for changeon the street.
"I think at the time I told him to get a job. Ihad no idea then that he had killed my brother-in-law," Frasier said on the courthouse steps afterthe hearing.
Smith came to the attention of authorities whenhis cousin in Connecticut contacted Bridgeportpolice about Gonzalez's slaying. She tolddetectives that Smith had arrived at her houseDec. 15 and said he wanted to "get blood on hishands" before going to the abandoned home, wherehe used to live, according to an arrest warrantaffidavit.
The next day, Smith returned to the cousin's housewith blood on his pants, hands and an ax, theaffidavit said. Police say he told his cousin hehad "gotten his blood."
Smith's cousin said he told her that he wassleeping on a porch at the abandoned home when hewas awakened by another man and invited inside.Then Smith described beating the man's face andhead with the ax and collecting one of his eyesand some of his brain matter, which he consumed ina nearby cemetery, the affidavit said.
The cousin told detectives she called Smith'smother, who suggested to police on Dec. 16 thatthey check the abandoned home and that her son had"mental issues," the affidavit said.
Smith had left Connecticut for Florida on Fridayon a bus, the cousin told detectives.
