Five days after a naked man chewed off 80% of a homeless man's face on the side of the MacArthur Causeway, the location of the bloody attack is being added to a local sightseeing tour.
Dr. Paul George, who runs HistoryMiami museum's "Mystery, Mayhem, and Vice" crime tour, told the South Florida Business Journal, "Horrible as it was, it is part of our history. Currently, our tour takes us over the causeway right past the site, so this fits well.”
Previous "Vice" tours have taken onlookers by spots like the site of the attempted assassination of Franklin Roosevelt; Al Capone's house; Casa Casuarina, where Gianni Versace was gunned down; and Miami City Cemetery.
Although murder is the central theme of the existing tour, the grisly details of last weekend's "zombie attack" stand out amongst the other notorious acts. Miami's Fraternal Order of Police vice president Sgt. Javier Ortiz said it was one of the goriest scenes he'd ever witnessed.
Now referred to as the 'Causeway Cannibal,' Rudy Eugene reportedly left South Beach on foot Saturday afternoon and began to strip off his clothing as he crossed MacArthur Causeway back to the Miami mainland, according to CBS Miami.
Surveillance video from the Miami Herald shows him encountering his victim, Ronald Poppo, sleeping in the shade of the Metromover. Eugene can be seen pulling the man's pants off and pummeling him, before crouching over his body in what was later discovered to be a cannibalistic attack.
The assault continued for 18 minutes while drivers and cyclists streamed past. Witness Larry Vega said that when an officer arrived and ordered Eugene to stop his assault, he “just stood, his head up like that, with pieces of flesh in his mouth. And he growled.”
Even as police shot Eugene, he reportedly continued to chew on Poppo. "He had his face eaten down to his goatee. The forehead was just bone. No nose, no mouth," said Aguilar.
After several shots, Eugene was killed at the scene. It will take several weeks for the toxicology reports to shed light on whether drugs played a role in his bizarre attack.
Meanwhile, Poppo remains at Jackson Memorial Hospital's Ryder Trauma Center, vulnerable to fatal infection from his attacker's saliva and facing multiple surgeries and a long, challenging recovery.
Saturday's cannibalistic attack has sparked tongue-in-cheek concern about an emerging "zombie apocalypse," especially when paired with news of a New Jersey man who recently cut into his stomach and threw his own intestines at police and a Maryland student who allegedly ate his victim's brain and heart.
HistoryMiami has enough fodder to start a Bizarre News tour here at home, however. Other notable spots could include the restaurant where a man threw his girlfriend's severed head at the cashier back in 1985 and the Metromover train where two men dragged a shark onboard, hoping to sell its meat for a quick buck.
HOW YOU CAN HELP: The Jackson Memorial Foundation has set up a fund to assist Ronald Poppo in his recovery, which experts in facial reconstruction have said will include lengthy treatment, staged reconstruction, and psychological care. Donations can be made by check or online at jmf.org.
Click below for images from the face-eating attack on Saturday:
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