WARNING: DISTRESSING CONTENT Venezuelan killer Dorángel “People Eater” Vargas shocked the nation with grisly murders and admitted cannibalism – a violent history that ended with long-term isolation and renewed horror in a 2016 prison riot.
José Dorángel Vargas Gomez, more commonly known as Dorángel Vargas or the “People Eater,” is one of Venezuela’s most notorious criminals.
His story stretches from a troubled childhood in rural Mérida to grisly murders in the streets and, decades later, a shocking prison riot that left inmates dead and reportedly served as food for others.
Born on May 14, 1957, in the small village of Caño Zancudo, Mérida, Vargas grew up in a family of poor farmers. His parents were involved with the Venezuelan Liberation Forces, patrolling the borderlands alongside guerillas. Locals later claimed Vargas was “possessed by evil spirits” from a young age. He only attended school until sixth grade, leaving him with little formal education.
As a young man, Vargas drifted away from his family and began living as a transient. He committed minor crimes such as stealing chickens and livestock, establishing a pattern of opportunistic offending.
His first serious brush with the law came in 1995 when he killed a fellow transient, Baltazar Cruz Moreno, and cannibalised the body.
Following this murder, Vargas was institutionalised at the Peribeca Psychiatric Rehabilitation Institute, where he spent two years receiving treatment. He was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia but was later released, despite concerns about his violent tendencies.
By the late 1990s, Vargas had returned to life on the streets, this time in the city of San Cristóbal in Táchira state. Between November 1998 and January 1999, he began a series of murders along the Torbes River and in Parque 12 de Febrero.
He targeted healthy men, often laborers, athletes, and the occasional drunkard, using a metal tube shaped like a spear or rocks to bludgeon them to death. Women, children, the elderly, and overweight men were reportedly avoided due to his peculiar personal rules about the “quality” of flesh.
After killing his victims, Vargas dismembered their bodies. Some parts were consumed, cooked, or stored in containers – others were buried or thrown into the river. He preferred the muscles of the thighs and calves, sometimes using tongues in stews or removing eyes to include in soup, but avoided eating hands, feet, noses, and ears.
The scale of his crimes was revealed in February 1999 when civil defence members discovered the remains of two young men near a park. Further investigation uncovered six more bodies, along with vessels containing human flesh and viscera, and several severed heads, hands, and feet in a shack where Vargas had been living. He admitted to killing and consuming at least ten men during this period.
Following his capture, Vargas’s story captured national attention. The press dubbed him “The Hannibal Lecter of the Andes,” a reference to the fictional cannibal in the popular book and film series.
Psychological evaluations concluded he suffered from paranoid schizophrenia with psychopathic tendencies, rendering him legally unaccountable in Venezuela’s justice system. With no suitable psychiatric facility for long-term containment, Vargas was placed in a secure prison in Táchira, where he would remain isolated to prevent further violence.
Despite incarceration, Vargas’s violent tendencies did not disappear. In October 2016, a month-long disturbance at the Táchira Detention Center in San Cristóbal escalated into a riot. The overcrowded facility was under gang control, where weapons and drugs were reportedly abundant, and some officials were suspected of collusion.
During the chaos, two inmates – Juan Carlos Herrera Jr., 25, and Anthony Correa – were brutally murdered. Families later claimed the men were stabbed, hanged to bleed, dismembered, and in a horrifying twist, portions of their bodies were fed to other prisoners.
Eyewitness accounts and prison investigations suggested that Vargas, already infamous as a cannibal, was recruited by a gang to carry out the dismemberments. A local investigator reported some inmates ate the flesh without realising they were consuming fellow prisoners, while others were force-fed. Inmates who refused to participate had fingers cut off as punishment.
The government confirmed the deaths but did not officially endorse the cannibalism claims, with Prisons Minister Iris Varela stating that investigations must rely on scientific evidence. However, testimonies from prisoners and families gave significant weight to the gruesome allegations.
Today, Vargas remains in isolation in Táchira, closely monitored due to his unpredictable and violent behaviour.
He has never shied away from speaking about his crimes, even admitting in interviews: “I used to eat the thighs, not the nose, ears or hands because they are too hard. If I saw a drunkard sleeping, I would kill him with my spear, cut his head off and feel happy.”
“I want to go back there and dig a big hole to bury them. I don’t feel ashamed of anything. They have put me in this jail for nothing.”