Home > Crime > MMA Cage Fighter Pleaded Guilty To Ripping Out Friend’s Heart And Tongue

MMA Cage Fighter Pleaded Guilty To Ripping Out Friend’s Heart And Tongue

September 10, 2012 at 9:33 am by Morbid

Klamath, CA - Two years ago we reported on Jarrod Wyatt, a mixed-martial artist who was accused of ripping out his friend’s heart after the two ingested some hallucinogenic mushroom tea. Last Thursday, Wyatt pleaded guilty to murder and mayhem charges.

Back in March 2010, a then 26-year-old Wyatt and his sparring partner, 21-year-old Taylor Powell, were drinking tea brewed with hallucinogenic mushrooms. People who were at the home at the time stated Wyatt began mumbling about a coming tidal wave and the end of the world before he started fighting with Powell. When Wyatt and Powell were left alone in the home, Wyatt became convinced Powell was the devil.

When one of their friends showed up at the home later, he saw Wyatt on the couch next to his Powell’s mutilated corpse. Wyatt had removed most of Powell’s face, including his tongue, and had cut out his heart while the man was still alive. According to the probable cause statement, “a large incision in the chest could be seen, and other unspecified body parts had been removed. An eyeball was resting in the middle of the room.” They would find Powell’s heart charred in a wood-burning stove.

Sgt Lee, the responding officer, would later tell the court that Wyatt admitted to them that he had killed his friend and cooked his body parts because he thought Powell was still alive and he needed to stop the devil. Sgt Lee would also state that at one point Wyatt asked if the police were God coming to save him.

Wyatt had initially entered a plea of not guilty by reason of insanity but a judge would rule that Wyatt was competent to stand trial. Deciding that a jury would probably recommend a life sentence, Wyatt struck a deal with prosecutors four days before the trial was to start. By pleading guilty to first-degree murder involving mayhem, Wyatt is looking at 50 years in prison with the possibility of parole.

“We looked for an agreement that would at least give him the opportunity to be paroled someday,” said Wyatt’s attorney, James Fallman. “As bad as 50 years to life sounds, it’s better than life without the possibility of parole.”

District Attorney Jon Alexander added that the earliest he’ll see a parole board will be in 2062, and that by doing this, they have saved the involved families from reliving the incident at trial. Wyatt’s official sentencing is set for Oct. 4.

Tags: California, Crime, Drugs, Jarrod Wyatt, Murder, mushrooms, Mutilation

49 Comments

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slavesher

Not often you get a “mayhem” charge. Interesting.
JohnQknowitall

This crime is horrifying, but I just don’t understand why this drug induced crime gets more time than some other even more atrocious crimes. My guess is jurisdiction and money.
JohnQknowitall

I love the way the word “mayhem” sounds.
http://twitter.com/vab423 Vicki B.

Wait, what? There’s something more atrocious than ripping someone’s face, tongue, heart and “unspecified body parts” out … some while the guy’s still alive … and cooking them?
JohnQknowitall

Well yeah… The victim was murdered by a stabbing and heart removal. The victim was a corpse when the face and tongue were mutilated. The reality cooking show used corpse parts and not live parts.

In no way do I minimize how horrible the fear the victim experienced and the actions leading to his death were/are, but the more horrifying things here were done after his “being” left his body.
http://www.facebook.com/uneffectivehalo Angela Kay

I wonder if Powell thought he was just having a bad trip when his friend started getting slicey. Perhaps he was thinking ,”don’t freak don’t freak-it’s just a bad trip.”…. fucking horrible way to go.
http://www.dreamindemon.com Morbid

His tongue and heart were removed while he was still alive.
newstarshipsmell

Oh, he used a knife? I was totally picturing him going all Temple of Doom on his buddy until I Continued Reading. I’ll just pretend he ripped it out with his bare hands anyways.
NY_Mommy

I’ve done more than my fair share of shrooms and they never made rip anyone’s face off. Usually I would just laugh for hours while chain smoking cigarettes.
newstarshipsmell

Would Face/Off jokes be out-of-bounds here?
Athena

Back in my teenage days, they were a summertime tradition for my social circle. I remember nothing more severe than believing I had achieved exceptional mental clarity or staring at the moon for extended periods of time… while chain smoking cigarettes.
Sam

I swear I heard the Indiana Jones theme tune while I was reading.
Andyman

This is a sad story (aren’t they all!) I had a friend, Jeff, who brewed up some mushroom tea with a friend of his. Apparently, his friend decided that Jeff had spiders crawling all over his back so he decided to use a knife to stab and kill them. Well I don’t know how many spiders he killed but he killed Jeff in the process. It really is too bad that people get mixed up in all of these powerful psychedelic drugs and bath salts only to realize what a horrible thing they are responsible for after the fact. Two lives ruined unnecessarily and this guy gets to sit in a cell for 50 years as a result.
Andyman

Nothing’s out of bounds here.
Sam

Okay, maybe my brain’s just not in gear yet seeing as how it’s Monday – but what’s with the baby bottle pic? Is it particularly good with cooked heart or something?
Gee

Me too… I have nothing but good memories on Shrooms
Abroad

“People who were at the home at the time stated Wyatt began mumbling
about a coming tidal wave and the end of the world before he started
fighting with Powell. When Wyatt and Powell were left alone in the home,
Wyatt became convinced Powell was the devil.”

I don’t understand why they were left alone, if he was clearly going off his rockers from this “tea” they’d drunk? Those “people” clearly weren’t friends of either man.
scud420

while 21 is young and his murder was definitely brutal, it’s not a toddler being tortured to death.
JohnQknowitall

How was this verified? Were there defense wounds?

—– Reply message —–
newstarshipsmell

Plus, for all we know, the victim saw his buddy pulling rainbow-shitting kittens out of his chest while he died (out of his one functioning eye, that is.) I fervently hope that if I ever meet a non-instantaneous, violent end, I am firmly assisted by hallucinogens at that time in positively disassociating myself from the reality of my own grisly death. But, you know, I’d rather die peacefully, like most people.
Athena

The blood evidence would serve as verification, most likely. Wounds bleed differently when the heart is still beating as opposed to postmortem mutilation. Don’t you watch Dexter?
http://www.dreamindemon.com Morbid

You would have to ask the person who performed the autopsy — he’s the one that made that statement.
http://www.dreamindemon.com Morbid

Only if it’s funny.
http://www.truecrimereport.com CallMeMister

Molah Rommmmmmmmm!
Chinchillazilla

Tissue bleeds if it’s removed while you’re alive. The blood vessels look different depending on vital status, I think.
Sam

Yes, me too – peacefully, in my sleep, like my granddad. Not screaming in terror like the passengers in his car.
http://hawtmamas.wordpress.com/ hawtmamma

SHIT SON! These boys were eating faces even before the bath salt wave! They’re the OG Bath Salt Kings! They don’t just take there clothes off! They’ll eat your face, with a side order of heart stew, and make ya famous!
NY_Mommy

I thought that was standard operating procedure. I thought the worst thing you could do was stare in a mirror.
http://www.facebook.com/clayton.knudsen1 Clayton Knudsen

Kalai MAAAAAAAAAAA!
http://www.facebook.com/clayton.knudsen1 Clayton Knudsen

I had my first experience with shrooms when I was 11. I was with older siblings camping at the lake. I thought it was a good idea to strip to bd suit and swim to the diving platform in the middle of the lake. (I had never actually swam without a skibelt before that) I swam out there and just stared at the stars that were coming to get me all night.
http://www.facebook.com/clayton.knudsen1 Clayton Knudsen

I just think of the insurance guy being the dog.
JohnQknowitall

The same guy from Oz, 30Rock, and one of those crime shows.
JGo555

Why is it that everyone becomes crazy and all of the sudden believe in God? Why can’t a crazy just say: “I wanted to do that & I got the opportunity. No, there’s no upstairs dude up there. Just Rip Van Winkle bowling with some ghosts.”
JGo555

FINISH HIM!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cugZkTHi84E
JGo555

Law & Order: SVU first season too.
pikeman

The mushrooms kicked in. It started as a heart to heart talk, then a tongue lashing, so he removed them both. We’ll have to keep an eye on this dude.

Of course, he probably won’t have much to worry about in the joint. “Yeah, I’m a fucking cagefighter, in for murder, and yes, mayhem! I cut a dudes tongue out, then his heart! Then I cut his fucking face and eye out! Any of you motherfuckers have any questions!”
pikeman

I guess cutting a dudes face, tongue, eyeball, and heart out might qualify as “mayhem”.
pikeman

Mayhem is serious. Like ripping someones head off and shitting down their neck. Or shoving someones asshole up through their eyeballs. Or ripping someone a new asshole and shoving their head up there. These acts probably would qualify as “mayhem”
JohnQknowitall

Then let the par-tay begin!
BEastDuo

LOL All I hear is that guy saying “LIke O.M.G Becky isn’t even hot…”
BEastDuo

i couldn’t smoke a cigarette when I did them, but i washed my hands and feet a lot. But showers? DO NOT DO. Yeah…that was a mistake.
BrizeeGyrl

Well Damn, maybe IF Powell had just stared in the mirror… he’d have ripped his own heart ouuta his chest and all over the other mayhem he inflicted on his buddy. Not in THAT particular order, ya think ?
Operation Plumbbob

“We looked for an agreement that would at least give him the opportunity to be paroled someday,” said Wyatt’s attorney

…

Call me strange but a guy who does something like this isn’t someone I want paroled someday. Ever. I don’t care what his excuse for doing it is.
Operation Plumbbob

Maybe he’ll get Sandusky as a cellmate.
Operation Plumbbob

I wonder if the face-eater would’ve gotten “mayhem” if he hadn’t been shot dead.
http://www.facebook.com/weejodie Jodie Woolner

My association with hallucinogenics ended many years ago. It was great while it lasted. The worst I did was pull my pal’s wallpaper off her wall because it was scaring me. Whilst having a chat with the nose that my foot had grown. I’m obviously a totally different kettle of monkeys to this space cadet………..
NCBrian

ha – i was focusing on the tongue myself – picturing Kahl Drogo on Game of Thrones
NCBrian

you said asshole twice
newstarshipsmell

Mixed martial artist who ripped out his friends heart and tongue while high on drugs is sentenced to 47-years
The mixed-martial artist accused of ripping out his friend’s heart, removing his tongue and skinning his face while the two were on hallucinogenic drugs has has been sentenced to 47-years in prison on Thursday.
Jarrod Wyatt, 29, of Crescent City, California, pleaded guilty last month to first-degree murder involving mayhem for killing his 21-year-old sparring partner Taylor Powell on March 21st, 2010.
Prosecutors say Wyatt ripped out his friend’s heart and tongue, after the two drank psychedelic mushroom tea. Wyatt was arrested after officers found him naked and covered in blood.
Wyatt had previously entered dual pleas of not guilty and not guilty by reason of insanity, leading to multiple psychiatric examinations. A Del Norte County judge ruled in May 2012 that Wyatt was competent to stand trial.
[...]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2213713/Mixed-martial-artist-ripped-friends-heart-tongue-high-drugs-sentenced-47-years.html

Thanks to CbabyRKO for finding the article/posting the link, there’s much more to read at the link.