Cannibal Dies in Prison

(Powell County, Montana) A convicted sex offender, Nathaniel Bar-Jonah, in his sixth-year of a 130-year sentence for molesting and eating a neighbor boy, was found dead yesterday in his cell at the Montana State Prison. He was 51.

Born David P. Brown, Bar-Jonah changed his name to supposedly feel the persecution of being treated like a Jew. I guess the rejection from being a murdering pervert wasn't enough for him.

Bar-Jonah was never tried on a separate cannibalism charge. But authorities in Montana had said they had evidence he murdered, butchered, and cooked 10-year Zachary Ramsey in 1996, serving his remains in meals to his neighbors without telling them. Those charges were dropped in 2002 when Ramsey's mother, Rachel Howard, who had expressed misgivings about the death penalty, told prosecutors that she was prepared to testify that her son was alive. His remains were never found.

Though Bar-Jonah's worst crimes occurred in Montana, he drew national attention to Massachusetts because he had been allowed to move out of state in 1991, even though he had been accused of several crimes against children.

In 1977, Bar-Jonah, dressed as a police officer, kidnapped two boys as they left a movie theater in Shrewsbury. He tried to assault them, but one escaped and found help. The former Dudley man served 12 years in the Massachusetts Treatment Center for the Sexually Dangerous in Bridgewater. [ ... ]

Forty-three days after his 1991 release, he was charged with assaulting another Massachusetts boy. A judge released him on the condition that he move in with his mother in Montana.

Naturally, as with any pedophile, Bar-Jonah continued to prey on children in Montana despite any consequences.

According to the warden of the prison, Mike Mahoney, Bar-Jonah was found unresponsive in his cell sometime after 6 AM Sunday and was pronounced dead at 7:06 AM at the Powell County Hospital. An autopsy is scheduled to determine if it was something he ate.

The way I figure it, the state of Montana owes the state of Massachusetts at least one homicidal child sex predator.