Boy May Have Been Fed to Neighbors

Dec. 20, 2000 -- Investigators say a convicted child molester charged Tuesday with killing a missing 10-year-old boy kept a “recipe” book of ways to cook human flesh, and believe he fed the boy to unknowing neighbors.

Prosecutors in Great Falls, Mont., accused Nathanial Bar-Jonah, 43, of killing Zachary Ramsay, who disappeared in February 1996 while walking to school. His body was never recovered.

Prosecutors believe Bar-Jonah butchered the child.

Encrypted writings believed to be the work of Bar-Jonah include a list of “dishes” made from the body of a small child, said Cascade County prosecutor Brandt Light.

Acquaintances of the suspect also said he gave them prepared dishes that tasted peculiar, Light said.

“They all talked about how the meat tasted funny,” he said.

If convicted of homicide and aggravated assault, Bar-Jonah could face the death penalty.

Bar-Jonah’s lawyer, Larry LaFountain, does not have a listed phone number and could not be reached for comment. In letters to a newspaper earlier this month, Bar-Jonah denied any role in the Ramsay case.

Bar-Jonah appeared in court via closed-circuit television fromthe county jail today but did not enter pleas to murder andkidnapping charges. He was ordered held on $500,000 bond. Despite not having the victim’s body, prosecutors believe they have enough evidene to convict Bar-Jonah.

‘Fantasies of Cannibalism’

A doctor who performed a psychiatric evaluation of Bar-Jonah said that he had fantasies about cannibalism, said Light. “He talked about dissection and he talked about eating human flesh and cannibalism.”

The list of “dishes” made from children’s flesh, which was found in his home, was written in code, and required FBI assistance to decipher.

The writings “appear to fit” with the details of the Ramsay case, said Light.

Authorities believe Bar-Jonah is responsible for at least one other death. The bones of a young boy were found buried beneath the dirt floor of his garage.

Tests show that those bones do not belong to Ramsay, or any other boy known to have disappeared in the region. The FBI reportedly is looking to see if the bones match those of any missing children in other states.

According to prosecutors, Bar-Jonah held regular garage sales, selling mostly children’s toys.

Local news reports said that Bar-Jonah’s apartment was filled with newspaper clippings about Zachary, thousands of pictures of young boys, and yearbooks from local elementary and middle schools.

A Sexual Predator

Bar-Jonah has a record of assaulting young boys going back 25 years.

He has been in jail since last December, when he was arrested on charges of impersonating a police officer near an elementary school and concealing a stun gun.

In January he will face separate charges that he sexually assaulted children and dangled a 9-year-old from a kitchen ceiling with a rope.

He could be sentenced to up to 300 years in prison if convicted

Bar-Jonah had been convicted in Massachusetts of several previous sex attacks, all on young boys, and served 14 years in Massachusetts prisons, starting in 1977.

Bar-Jonah was released in 1991, reportedly over the objections of the prison doctor. Within months, he was sent back to prison for assaulting a 7-year-old boy, Light said.

Six months later, he was released under the condition he move to Montana and live with his mother.

In Montana, however, he did not register himself as a convicted sex offender, as required by law. And Massachusetts, it appears, never told the state that Bar-Jonah was on the way.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.