27-year-old Resendo Tellez was arrested after he allegedly stole a severed human leg from the scene of a train collision and proceeded to eat it while walking down the street.
FacebookA still from a video posted to social media of Resendo Tellez allegedly holding and eating a severed human leg.
A man in Kern County, California, was arrested on March 22, 2024, after allegedly removing human remains — a leg, to be exact — from a location other than a cemetery.
As local news station KUTV reported, an unnamed individual was killed after they were hit by a train at an Amtrak station in Wasco, California. Their leg was also severed in the incident, and witnesses allegedly saw 27-year-old Resendo Tellez remove the body part from the scene.
Then, a crew laying concrete nearby reported something even more disturbing: Tellez began eating the leg.
The Disturbing Video Of The Incident
“I’m not sure from where, but he walked this way and he was waving a person’s leg. And he started chewing on it over there, he was biting it and he was hitting it against the wall and everything,” said Jose Ibarra, a worker who saw the grisly incident.
One witness even captured video of a man reported to be Tellez carrying the leg and swinging it about.
“On the video that we have, it shows clearly that he started chewing on the leg and everything,” Ibarra said.
The video was acquired by ABC 23 Bakersfield, among other outlets.
“On the leg, the skin was hanging. You could see the bone,” continued Ibarra.
Employees of the Amtrak station quickly called police to inform them of the ghastly crime, and investigators arrived on the scene shortly after to arrest Tellez.
Tellez was taken into custody without incident, and he’s been charged with moving a body part from a place that is not a cemetery, disposing of human remains in a place that is not a cemetery, destroying or concealing evidence, and resisting law enforcement.
Resendo Tellez, The Alleged Perpetrator
Days after the incident, KGET published a report revealing more information about Tellez, though there is much that remains unknown about the man.
Residents of Wasco reported that Tellez was homeless and often slept in a doorway near Wasco Liquor. One employee of the store said Tellez was a regular customer who entered the shop multiple times daily to purchase food or beer.
Security Footage/KGETResendo Tellez seen on security camera footage making a purchase at the liquor store shortly before the incident.
In fact, security camera footage from the business shows Tellez entering and making a purchase just hours before the incident occurred.
The employee said she never would have expected Tellez to do something so heinous.
“No, it can’t be him,” she thought when she first heard the news.
Tellez reportedly took the severed limb because “he thought the leg was his.” According to court records, he has several other misdemeanor convictions, mostly related to drugs and alcohol — but he’s never faced charges like this.
The Kern County Sheriff’s Office stated that they cannot provide any more information about the case at this time.
After reading about this grisly incident in California, go inside 17 cannibal attacks that will make your stomach churn. Or, if you’re curious, learn what human meat tastes like.
