Now he’s sinking his teeth into prison time.
A “budding serial killer” with devil horn tattoos murdered two patients at a South Carolina mental health home — then ate their ears and drank one victims’ blood from a coffee cup, according to a gruesome new lawsuit.
Ex-convict Marc-Anthony Cantrell, 26, allegedly chowed down on Jared Ondrea and Deshea Butler’s ears at the Harper Street group home in Columbia in 2023 “so he could gain their power,” according to a suit cited by The State newspaper.
“Cantrell told police that he killed Jared and Deshea because his alternate personality, Robert Baldwin, had instructed him to do so,” according to the lawsuit, filed by Ondrea’s grandmother, Peggy Ondrea.
“After he had strangled Deshea, he hit him in the head with one of his lifting weights so that he could drink his blood, which he did over several days from a coffee cup,” according to the lawsuit, which notes Cantrell was a “Satan worshipper” with devil horn tattoos.
Peggy Ondrea is suing South Carolina’s Department of Mental Health for failing to protect her 22-year-old grandson, who was enrolled in an outpatient program for mild mental health problems.
Cantrell — who had previously served time for torturing dogs and setting his parents’ home on fire — was on probation when he allegedly killed the men over a five-month period in 2023, according to the paper.
“Cantrell — who had every telltale sign of a budding serial killer — never should have been placed in a home with vulnerable adults,” the lawsuit says. “[The state] was aware of Cantrell’s living arrangements, and was also aware of his past violent crimes of arson and animal cruelty.”
Jared Ondrea went missing from the group home in March 2023 and wasn’t found despite a police search.
Butler disappeared four months later and his body was discovered in a wooded area across the street from the center.
Police reviewing video surveillance tapes soon found evidence linking Cantrell to Butler’s disappearance and charged him with murder.
Cantrell allegedly admitted to killing both men in a police interview and provided “graphic details” about the murders, including that he strangled both of them, according to the lawsuit.
An autopsy of Deshea backed up Cantrell’s story of cannibalism, court papers state. Ondrea’s body has never been found but Cantrell allegedly said he dumped it in the trash.
Columbia police have charged Cantrell with the murders of both Ondrea and Butler. No trial date has been set.
Cantrell is now back in prison, serving out his sentence for arson and is scheduled to be released in October 2031.
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