JOPPA, Md. -- A Maryland college student has admitted murdering and dismembering a man and then eating his heart and part of his brain, police said Thursday.

Kenyan-born Alexander Kinyua, who has been charged with first-degree murder in the death of Nigerian national Kujoe Bonsafo Agyei-Kodie, allegedly carried out the gruesome deed after ranting online about human sacrifices and death cults.

The 37-year-old victim had been living at the Kinyua family home in Joppa, Md., for the past six months, the Baltimore Sun reported.

His severed head and hands were found in the home and more of his remains were dumped in a trash container outside a church, police said.

Kinyua, 21, allegedly confessed to killing Agyei-Kodie with a knife then eating his heart and portions of his brain.

Harford County Sheriff Jesse Bane said the crime was among the most brutal and bizarre he had seen in his 40 years with the force -- and he had never come across a case of cannibalism.

"I've not encountered that in this county, and I hope we never encounter it again," Bane said.

Kinyua's father, Antony, reported Agyei-Kodie missing last Friday after going for a jog.

Then Tuesday night, Antony called police to say his other son, Jarrod, had found a human head and two human hands inside metal tins under a blanket in the laundry room, according to charging documents.

Kinyua told his father they were instead animal remains but when interviewed by police he allegedly admitted to killing Agyei-Kodie.

Kinyua faced a court Thursday via live video feed from Harford County Detention Center. The judge ruled he be held without bail.

Kinyua is a third-year electrical engineering major at Morgan State University and fellow students said his behavior had become increasingly troubled in recent months, the Baltimore Sun reported.

He was charged with first-degree assault and reckless endangerment for allegedly fracturing the skull of a classmate with a baseball bat on May 20, in what police described as a random attack.

Kinyua, who was born in Kenya but has lived in Maryland with his family for the past nine years, had also began making threatening online posts, including recent Facebook messages about "mass human sacrifices."

- NewsCore