A Mexican cook killed his drinking buddy, cut up his body and boiled him in herbs, according to police who fear he may have been turning him into tamales.
Prosecutors said on Wednesday they had arrested Carlos Machuca, a tamale-maker, at his home in the western city of Morelia on Tuesday, after receiving an anonymous phone tip.
Officers found a man's mutilated corpse in the living room and body parts simmering in aluminum saucepans on the patio, state prosecutors told Reuters.
"We saw the flesh and the tamales, and our first impression was that he was making tamales with the flesh of the deceased, although it has yet to be confirmed," Lorena Cortes, a spokeswoman for Michoacan state prosecutors, said.
But she also told Reuters by telephone that Machuca, 56, may just have been trying to dispose of the body. Police say he stabbed the man through the heart in a fight after they had drunk together.
Tamales are made of packets of maize dough with a savory or sweet filling, typically wrapped in corn husks or banana leaves. They often contain pork or chicken.
