The Joy of Cooking?

Choose turkey (courtesy of http://www.delish.com)

Residents of the small Oceanside, California community were accustomed to strange behavior from the Hengls. 74-year-old Anna Maria Hengl was often seen feeding the birds or speaking with passersby, never noticing that her pants had fallen to her ankles. And Anna’s husband, 68-year-old Frederick Hengl, was known for cross-dressing and even running errands in town while in drag.

They were an odd couple, to say the least. And things were about to get even more bizarre.

For more than a month, neighbors had not seen or heard from Anna. Frederick, on the other hand, kept very busy and for the last week, the sounds of power tools could be heard coming from his home. Neighbor Erick Chavez also noticed Frederick’s new attachment to his trash cans.

“The man was taking his trash cans back and forth,” Chavez told local reporters. “He’s been going around the block, up and around.”

Not a good idea!

Recently, neighbors noticed a terrible and growing stench coming from the Hengls’ home. It became so unbearable that someone reported it to the police, who immediately investigated.

Officers entered the home through a window and found three pans of meat cooking on the stove. Scattered throughout the home were cut pieces of bone and several tools, including a meat grinder, a saw and a boning knife. But what they found in the freezer cast all of this in a new and disturbing light.

They found the severed head of Anna Maria Hengl. And as it turned out, the meat cooking on the stove was Anna, too. At least what was left of her.

Frederick Hengl was taken into custody and today pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder. He is now in jail on $5 million bail.

I realize this is a rather morbid story to lead into Thanksgiving, but it should remind us of how fortunate we are to have only turkey on the menu. Poor Anna never had that chance…