Atlanta| A man was arrested this morning in the Georgian capital, for the murders of 27 people over the last two years.
54 year-old Michael Rodriguez is accused of killing 23 women and 4 men, slaying at least one victim per month since December 2013.
According to the police, the accused seemed to regularly feel the urge to kill and would attack anyone he saw as vulnerable to satisfy his thirst for blood.
“He seems to have literally been addicted to killing,” said Captain Jerry Woodson. “He says he heard voices telling him to kill people, and that they would sometimes become unbearable, until he finally killed someone. Like many serial killers, he visibly suffers from mental problems.”
The Atlanta police confirmed that the suspect has already confessed to at least 19 of the murders and is still being interrogated.
According to his ex-wife, who divorced him in February 2015, the date at which the murders began, coincides with Mr Rordiguez’s heart transplant operation. She says that his personality changed dramatically after he got his new heart, and that the operation is responsible for his actions.
“He was a peaceful and charming man before his transplant,” claims Michelle Gonzales,“but after he got his new heart, he became quick-tempered, and he seemed obsessed with weapons and hunting. He bought some guns and knives, and began killing everything from rabbits to bears. I didn’t recognize the man I had married and I decided to leave. I knew he had become more aggressive, but I never thought that he had become such a monster. This is all due to the heart they gave him, it’s evil!”The identity of organ donor is often kept secret, but the police investigators were given access to Mr. Rodriguez’s file. They discovered that the organ donor was a convicted serial killer named Dereck Emery, who was executed by the state in 2013.
Mr. Emery was condemned to death in 2009, after being found guilty of murdering 17 women and 2 men across southern Georgia.
Mr Rodriguez’ crimes could be linked to a strange secondary effect of organ transplants, called the cell memory phenomenon. While still not considered 100 percent scientifically-validated, is still supported by several scientists and physicians. and many transplanted people have reported feeling such effects.
The behaviors and emotions acquired by the recipient from the original donor are due to the combinatorial memories stored in the neurons of the organ donated. Heart transplants are said to be the most susceptible to cell memory where organ transplant recipients experienced a change of behavior.
An Austrian study published in the journal of Quality of Life Research, showed that 79 percent of patients of heart transplants did not feel that their personality changed post-surgery, while 15 percent experienced a moderate change change in personality, and six percent did confirm a drastic change in their personality due to their new heart.
WNDR