Joe Metheny: A Gruesome Saga of Murder, Cannibalism, and a Twisted Quest for Revenge
- Daniel Holland
- Dec 7, 2024
- 10 min read
Updated: Dec 15, 2025
Joe Metheny’s case remains one of the most horrifying examples of unchecked rage and calculated cruelty in modern crime history. Arrested in December 1996, Metheny confessed in detail to a series of murders that shocked even seasoned investigators. While serial killing itself was not new, the method Metheny used to dispose of his victims placed his case among the most grotesque ever recorded. According to his own confession, Metheny butchered his victims, mixed their flesh with pork and beef, and sold the resulting meat as hamburgers from a roadside barbecue stand in Baltimore, Maryland.
The case has since become one of the most frequently cited examples of extreme violence intersecting with public trust, anonymity, and urban vulnerability.
A Catalyst for Violence: Loss and Betrayal
Joe Metheny was born in 1953 and grew up in a troubled household marked by instability and alcohol abuse. As an adult, he drifted through a series of low skilled jobs and struggled with substance use. By the early 1990s, his life had narrowed to survival, resentment, and escalating anger.
The catalyst for Metheny’s violence came in 1994 when his wife, who was addicted to drugs, disappeared and took their young son with her. Metheny later described this moment as a profound betrayal. He became consumed by rage and grief, convinced that his wife had abandoned him deliberately and possibly been influenced or protected by others in Baltimore’s drug using community.
For several days, Metheny searched obsessively through shelters, abandoned buildings, drug houses, and areas known for sex work and addiction. When he failed to find his wife or child, his frustration hardened into hostility. He later told police that he believed people were deliberately hiding information from him.
The First Murders Under the Bridge
Metheny’s search eventually led him to a homeless encampment beneath a bridge, an area his wife was known to frequent. There, he encountered two homeless men, Randall Brewer and Randy Piker. Metheny believed they had information about his wife’s whereabouts. When they could not provide answers, Metheny attacked them with an axe, killing both men.
Nearby, a fisherman may have witnessed part of the attack. Fearing exposure, Metheny murdered him as well. He then disposed of all three bodies by dumping them into the river, a decision that would later allow him to evade conviction.
Arrest and Acquittal
Police arrested Metheny shortly after the killings, and he was charged with the murders of Brewer and Piker. He spent approximately 18 months in custody awaiting trial. However, the lack of physical evidence proved decisive. The bodies had not been recovered, and forensic proof was absent. Metheny was acquitted of all charges.
Rather than deterring him, this outcome appeared to reinforce his belief that he could kill without consequence. In later statements, Metheny indicated that the acquittal made him more confident and methodical.
Escalation and the Beginning of Cannibalistic Crimes
After his release, Metheny’s crimes escalated in both frequency and brutality. His anger was no longer focused solely on his wife. Instead, he began targeting individuals he considered expendable. Sex workers and homeless people became his primary victims, chosen because he believed they would not be missed or reported.
Metheny lured victims to his home with promises of drugs, money, or temporary shelter. Once inside, he murdered them using blunt force or stabbing weapons. Unlike the earlier killings, he now planned carefully what would happen next.
Following the murder of two women engaged in sex work, Metheny dismembered their bodies, separating flesh from bone. The usable meat was stored in his freezer, while the remaining remains were buried at a truck depot owned by the pallet company where he worked.
Selling Human Flesh as Food
Metheny then began selling meat from a roadside barbecue stand, which he operated near truck stops and industrial areas. He mixed human flesh with ground pork and beef to make hamburger patties. These were cooked and sold to truck drivers and local customers.
In later interviews, Metheny showed no remorse. He claimed that no one ever noticed anything unusual. “The human body tastes very similar to pork,” he told investigators. “If you mix it together, no one can tell the difference.”
This aspect of the case drew particular attention because it involved unsuspecting members of the public unknowingly consuming human remains. The act transformed the murders into a broader violation of public trust and safety.
Victims and Confession
Metheny claimed responsibility for at least ten murders between 1994 and 1996, though investigators believe the true number may be higher. He described his crimes in graphic detail and appeared emotionally detached while recounting them.
One especially unsettling element of his confession was his reaction to customers who ate the meat. “No one ever complained about the meat,” he said, expressing a sense of satisfaction. For Metheny, forcing society to unknowingly participate in his crimes seemed to enhance his sense of dominance.
Capture and Final Arrest
Metheny’s killing spree ended in 1996 when a woman he attempted to murder escaped and reported him to police. Officers arrested Metheny shortly afterwards. During questioning, he confessed not only to recent murders but also to earlier killings he had previously avoided prosecution for, including the fisherman under the bridge.
Despite the severity of his crimes, Metheny expressed regret only that he had not killed the people he originally blamed for his wife’s disappearance. “The only thing I feel bad about,” he said, “is I didn’t get to murder the two people I was really after.”
Trial, Sentence, and Death
Joe Metheny was convicted of multiple counts of murder. He initially received a death sentence, which was later commuted in 2000 to two consecutive life sentences without the possibility of parole.
While incarcerated, Metheny remained largely unrepentant. He continued to speak openly about his crimes, often with a detached or mocking tone. In 2017, he was found dead in his prison cell at the age of 62.
A Disturbing Legacy
Before his death, Metheny offered a chilling warning that has since become infamous. He advised people to think carefully before eating at unfamiliar roadside food stands, referencing his own crimes.
Joe Metheny’s case remains a stark example of how extreme violence can exist within ordinary settings. His crimes exposed vulnerabilities in how society overlooks certain lives and how anonymity can be exploited. More than a story of murder, it is a reminder of how easily trust can be abused, and how brutality can hide behind the most unremarkable facades.
Joe Roy Metheny's Confession
"To start out I will tell you about myself at the present moment, which is locked up. I am 48 years old, I weigh about 450 pounds and it's not all fat. I've been locked up for almost 8 years now, but when one has been sentenced to a couple of life without parole sentences, time doesn't matter anymore.
I have no problem with being locked up, for no one put me here but myself. And I deserve to be right where I'm at, cause I had 12 law-abiding jurors that told me so, in a couple different cases. Ha! Ha! I was only convicted of two murders and one kidnapping for the one that got away. I got 50 years for her. The first murder I was sentenced to life without parole. The second one they gave me the death penalty. I sat on Maryland's death row for 3 years, and then they overturned my sentence and gave me another life without parole and sent me down here for the rest of my life.
I killed seven people, three men, and four women. Two men I chopped up with an axe under a bridge in South Baltimore. I was found not guilty for them cause they couldn't prove I did it. Under that same bridge I also killed two women and one man who was fishing, who just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. I weighed their bodies down and put them in that river. I showed the police where I put them about 3 years later, but they couldn't find them. So they could not charge me for them.
My murder rampage started out as revenge but ended up as a passion for the taste of blood and the overwhelming sense of power one gets for taking the life of another.
My story
It all started back in July of 1994. I was at work, I was a truck driver. I was working overtime this one night. Then I got off and went home as I always did. But when I opened the door and turned on the light, I noticed there was nothing there. My ole lady had taken everything including my son and left me. Her leaving was not my problem. But she took my 6-year-old son with her. She was a crack addict and a worthless piece of shit. I would have paid her to get out of my life. All she had to do was take my son over to my mothers house and she could have had everything else and be gone.
I found out about 6 months later she had moved on the other side of town with some asshole that had her out selling her ass for drugs. They got busted for drugs and they took my son away from them for child neglect and child abuse.
I had no chance of going to social services and trying to get my son back do to my past criminal record. So I took it upon myself with the hatred I had for these 2 who lost my son, to go looking for them. I had found out from someone that they was going under that bridge and getting high with some homeless motherfuckers who lived under that bridge.
I went under there looking for them. They were not there, but the two homeless motherfuckers they got high with them were down there. They were passed out on some old stinking mattress and that's where they were when I left, except there were dead from being chopped up.
That same night I lured the first crackwhore down under that bridge. I got her high and was trying to get information out of her about my ole ladies whereabouts. She acted like she didn't know, so I beat the hell out of her and raped her ass then killed her. I put her in some bushes and went and lured the second bitch down there. I did the same to her as the last one, but as I was about to throw her in the bushes with the other one I noticed an old blackman down by the river fishing looking back up at me. I grabbed a steel pipe that was lying by and ran down on him and layed his head wide open. So I put the two girls and him in the river and weighed them down with rocks.
That was a very busy night for me 5 murders within about 7 hours. I washed up in that river and cleaned up the crime scene as much as I could, then left. 2 1/2 weeks later I was arrested and charged with the murders of the 2 men I chopped up. I spent close to 18 months in Baltimore City Jail waiting to go to trial. The trial lasted 1 week and it was thrown out of court cause of lack of evidence.
I was free again. I went back and talked my old boss into giving my job back to me at the pallet company. There was a little trailer on the property, so I told my boss to let me stay there and I could keep an eye on the place. He agreed to this and gave me the keys to the front gate and main building. The company was on a dead end road and was very isolated. It was perfect for what I wanted to do.
I lured 2 more crackwhores up there to my trailer. I killed and butchered their bodies up. I cut the meat up and put it in some Tupperware bowls then put it in a freezer. I buried the remains in several shallow graves in a little woods behind the company.
Over the next couple weeks on the weekends I opened up a little open-pit beef stand. I had real roast beef and pork sandwiches and why not they were very good. The human body tastes was very similar to pork. If you mix it together no one can tell the difference.
Everything was going pretty good until I ran out of my special meat. So I lured another bitch up to my trailer. I got her in there and started to rip her clothes off and knocking the hell out of her. She was screaming, but there was no one around to hear her except me. And I just kept on laughing at her.
I turned around for a split second, and that was my mistake, for she ran out the door before I could get to her. There was an 8-foot chain link fence with barbwire on top of it around the front of the company. There was a stack of wooden pallets next to the fence about 10 feet high. That bitch scaled those pallets like a monkey and jumped the fence, and ran down to the main road where some guy in a pickup truck picked her up and took her to a nearby gas station where they called the cops.
Well I knew the cops were on the way, but I didn't run. I gathered up her clothing, grabbed the keys to the gate, and went out and opened it. Soon as I step out the gate a cop car pulled up. And the cop jumped out and pulled his gun on me and told me to get on the ground. And that is where it all came to an end.
They took me down and booked me. She had told them that I said I was going to kill her like the rest. Which was true. They had me sitting in a little room down at homicide drilling me and damn near kissing my ass. Trying to find out what I had done. They pulled me out of city jail everyday for 1 month taking me back and forth between the company and the bridge.
I had they going crazy over at the company digging up the remains of those 2 bitches there. Cause I had their remains buried in 7 different holes. The only thing I feel bad about in any of this, is I didn't get to murder the 2 motherfuckers I was really after. And that's my ex ole lady and the bastard she got hooked up with.
Well that's my story, horrible but true. So the next time you're riding down the road and you happen to see an open pit beef stand, that you've never seen before, make sure you think about this story before you take a bite of that sandwich. Sometimes you never know who you may be eating. Ha! Ha!"
