BARTOW, Fla. – Bail has been died for a 42-year-old central Florida man accused of stabbing a friend to death and then drinking his blood.
A judge denied bail for Mauricio Mendez Lopez on Thursday. Lopez is being held in a Polk County Jail. It was not immediately known if he has an attorney.
Lopez is accused of killing Macario Cruz in a house they shared in Bartow.
A third resident, Cruz's sister-in-law Mariella Mendez, told police that Lopez was upset because she was in a relationship with Mendez.
A police report says Lopez struck the victim in the face and later stabbed him to death.
The woman told police Lopez left with a plastic cup in his hand that appeared to hold blood. She said he drank from the cup in a strange ritual from their native Mexico.
