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Michael Woodmansee: John Foreman vow's to kill son.The father of a five-year-old boy allegedly eaten by a cannibal 36 years ago today threatened to killer the murderer if he is released early from jail. John Foreman said he wanted revenge for the death of his son Jason, who was kidnapped and killed by the then 16-year-old Michael Woodmansee in 1975.
The boy was presumed missing until 1982 when Woodmansee, now 52, tried to lure another child into his home in South Kingstown, Rhode Island.
The incident led police to discover Jason’s bones in a dresser along with a journal which detailed the gruesome killing. Woodmansee is believed to have eaten his victim, but this was never proved in court because in 1983 he pleaded guilty to second-degree murder before a jury could hear the full case.
He was jailed for 40 years as part of a plea bargain meant to spare the Foreman family from hearing the grisly details of their son's death.
The incident led police to discover Jason’s bones in a dresser along with a journal which detailed the gruesome killing.
Woodmansee is believed to have eaten his victim, but this was never proved in court because in 1983 he pleaded guilty to second-degree murder before a jury could hear the full case.
He was jailed for 40 years as part of a plea bargain meant to spare the Foreman family from hearing the grisly details of their son's death.
Victim: Jason Foreman was snatched on his mother's 25th birthday. His bones were found nearly eight years later, stashed in Woodmansee's dresser
Victim: Jason Foreman was snatched on his mother's 25th birthday. His bones were found nearly eight years later, stashed in Woodmansee's dresser
Now, however, the murderer faces being parole for good behaviour by the end of the year - 12 years before his sentence is due to expire, according to the Providence Journal.
But, far from being spared pain, Mr Foreman is unable to forget his son’s death and is refusing to forgive Woodmansee. Furthermore, he is willing to risk being imprisoned himself.
‘I do intend, if this man is released anywhere in my vicinity, or if I can find him after the fact, I do intend to kill this man,’ he told WPRO-AM radio.Woodmansee, who lived up the street from the Foreman home, snatched Jason on the day the boy's mother, Joice, celebrated her 25th birthday.
As a result, what should be a time of happiness for the family, has become forever associated with pain and heartache. She remained broken-hearted until her death in 2000.Woodmansee later told police he had fantasised that ‘it would be easy [to kill someone], easy to get away with it, and some form of fun’.
For eight years, frustrated authorities conducted a nationwide manhunt for Jason, fearing he had been kidnapped.No one suspected the full, horrific truth - that a disturbed killer had taken his life, removed his flesh and hid his bones.
But in April 1982, the secret emerged when a bearded Woodmansee invited a 14-year-old newspaper delivery Dale Sherman into his house.
After giving the boy with alcohol, Woodmansee attempted to strangle the teenager.Because the allegations involved a boy, investigators decided to question him about Jason.
And despite initially denying the charges, he shortly thereafter confessed to sexually assaulting and killing the child.But after sentencing Woodmansee, Rhode Island Superior Court Judge Thomas H. Needham ordered his journal and all other evidence in the case sealed.
The killer, who has served nearly all of his sentence at prisons in Massachusetts for his own protection, faces huge public anger if he returns to Rhode Island.But police say they are preparing for that possibility.
‘We do not know what his plans are or if he is [planning on coming back here], but it is definitely something we plan on discussing,’ a spokesman for the South Kingstown Police Department told AOL News today.
