A Minnesota man convicted of butchering his mother in her bedroom — and then eating her — claimed he was possessed by the devil.
Eric Leif Jordahl murdered his mom and Big Lake City Councilwoman Rosalie “Rose” Johnson in a frenzied late night attack at their home in Sherburne County on July 23, 2020.
The twisted son, 26, attacked his mother because she told him to go to bed — breaking out into a fatal fit of punching, stabbing, and biting, according to the Minnesota Star Tribune.
His father, Andrew Jordahl, came home from work at 9 a.m. that fateful day to find his son in the garage covered in blood.
“The devil exists, it’s in me, and I ate mom,” the young man told his father, according to a criminal complaint reviewed by the Star Tribune.
Police found parts of the 62-year-old woman’s body tissue and a butcher’s knife on the kitchen table, the Daily Mail reported.
Police saw body parts throughout the house and found hair and body tissue on Jordahl’s clothing, finding Johnson’s body in her bedroom. She also had severe injuries to her face and head, according to the Star Tribune.
Jordahl was convicted of first-degree murder Thursday, which carries an automatic life sentence.
Despite the conviction, Jordahl’s lawyers were expected to argue in court Monday that he should be found not guilty due to mental illness.
Johnson was first appointed to the Big Lake City Council in January 2019 and was also a member of the Big Lake Community Lake Association and the Big Lake School District’s Community Education Advisory Board, The Monticello Times reported.
Family and friends dedicated a bench in Big Lake’s Lakeside Park to memorialize her three months after the shocking murder.
“It’s the perfect memorial,” Scott Zettervall, a fellow city council member, told the Times. “It’s a place for conversation, reflection and relaxation.”