Gothamist
A non-profit newsroom, powered by WNYC.
Gothamist
Listen Live
News
"Cannibal" Cop Turned In By Horrified Wife Who Found "Weird Stuff" On Computer
By
Ben Yakas
Published Oct 26, 2012
Modified Oct 26, 2012
Share
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
Never miss a story
Email address
By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .
By
Ben Yakas
Published Oct 26, 2012
Modified Oct 26, 2012
Share
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
We rely on your support to make local news available to all
Make your contribution now and help Gothamist thrive in 2026. Donate today
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
The NYPD officer who was arrested Thursday for allegedly attempting to "kidnap women and cook them" was denied bail during his hearing in Manhattan Criminal Court yesterday. Gilberto Valle, a 28-year-old married six-year veteran of the NYPD, has been charged with conspiracy to kidnap and accessing a computer without authorization, for which he faces up to life in prison. It's now been revealed how Valle was caught: his estranged wife, Kathleen Cooke Mangan, discovered his “tactical plan,” which he called his blueprint for “Abducting and Cooking,” on his computer last month: "When she saw what was on the computer, what he was into, she literally ran out of the house with just the clothes on her back," a law-enforcement source told the Post.
Mangam contacted the FBI about the “weird stuff” she found on his computer (including the names, photos, dates of birth, heights, weights and bra sizes of dozens of women), then immediately left the state with the couple’s year-old baby daughter. “I was thinking of tying her body onto some kind of apparatus,” he allegedly wrote to a co-conspirator in one of many email and IM conversations. “Cook her over a low heat, keep her alive as long as possible.”
Public defender Julia Gatto initially argued for bail, saying the Valle was only guilty of a "deviant fantasy." "There's no actual crossing the line from fantasy to reality," Gatto said. "At worst this is someone who has sexual fantasies about people he knows and he talks about it on the Internet." But Assistant U.S. Attorney Hadassa Waxman pointed out that he was too close to carrying out the "grotesque and disturbing" plots: "[He had] plans to kidnap, rape, torture, kill and eat the body parts of young women, some of whom the FBI has identified and they acknowledge knowing the defendant for a period of time," she said.
Valle, who attended Archbishop Molloy High School in Queens and then studied psychology, criminology and criminal justice at the University of Maryland, joined the police force in 2006. His younger brother denied the charges and defended him to reporters: “He’s a nice guy,” he said. “I’m upset.” Neighbors were in shock still as well: “That’s absolutely horrifying,” said David Rosenblatt. “I never heard of anyone doing that, let alone in this building. This is supposed to be one of the nicer areas of Queens.”
You can take a look through Valle's OKCupid profile here, in which he seemed to have an obsession with food (that extended to a creepy explanation of why Green Eggs And Ham is his favorite book), and how he views himself: "I also consider myself a true gentleman, and chivalry is huge with me (yes, I will open doors and pull out chairs for you)." DNAInfo also dug up his wedding registry from earlier this year, which included lots of baking pans and oven mitts.
Tagged
bizarre
cannibal
cannibal cop
cop
gilberto valle
manhattan
nypd
Ben Yakas
Ben Yakas is a former Gothamist reporter.
Read more
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
MORE news
Early Addition: There's finally stuff inside the Times Square tower where the ball drops
Because it used to sit vacant for most of the year, here are your early links: Rangers goalie scored, "It's a Wonderful Life" coming to Broadway, there's dignity in scaffolding and more.
By
James Ramsay
Published Oct 2, 2026 at 9:20 a.m. ET
NYC subway dragging death highlights an old school MTA failsafe
The man dragged to death by a subway train in Brooklyn earlier this week put riders across the city on edge.
By
Ramsey Khalifeh
News
NYC subway dragging death highlights an old school MTA failsafe
The man dragged to death by a subway train in Brooklyn earlier this week put riders across the city on edge.
By
Ramsey Khalifeh
We were the victim': Brooklyn shelter's new CEO speaks after corruption scandal
By
Ryan Kost
Badly burned body found in a trashed and abandoned Jamaica Queens lot, NYPD says
By
Brittany Kriegstein
Brooklyn DA brings back warrant-clearing event as quality-of-life tickets surge
By
Ben Feuerherd
Never miss a story
Catch up on the most important headlines with a roundup of essential NYC stories, delivered to your inbox daily.
Sign upEmail address
By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .