TYLER, Texas -- Friends and family of a 21-year-old who police say was killed and mutilated by her boyfriend tried Monday to put aside the grisly details of her death, while police said the man described his actions as being compelled by God.
Christopher Lee McCuin, 25, made his initial court appearance Monday after being charged with capital murder in the death Jana Shearer. Police say they found an ear boiling in a pot on a stovetop at the crime scene, and a hunk of flesh on a plate and impaled on a fork at the kitchen table.
"You can't sleep. You can't think straight anymore," said Amy Gage, a friend and neighbor of Shearer. "Then you just keep finding out more and more. It's the most difficult thing anyone can go through."
McCuin, wearing a jail-issue red jumpsuit, was not asked to enter a plea as he appeared before state District Judge Jack Skeen Jr. Skeen continued McCuin's bond at $2 million and appointed an attorney to represent him.
Skeen also sealed the arrest and search warrant affidavits and issued a gag order in the case.
Authorities say it is unclear whether McCuin consumed any part of the woman's body. Smith County Sheriff Lt. Larry Wiginton told the Tyler Morning-Telegraph on Monday that McCuin told investigators that God made him kill Shearer.
"When he said God told him to do it, one of the investigators looked at him and just said, 'What did you say?'" according to Wiginton.
McCuin was arrested Saturday after deputies responded to a 911 call in this East Texas town about 110 miles east of Dallas. He is also the suspect in the early Saturday morning stabbing of a man described as his estranged wife's boyfriend, authorities said.
Friends of Shearer continued posting tributes and goodbyes Monday on what appeared to be her MySpace page. On the page, the former high school drill team officer is holding a dog next to a headline that reads "Jana loves life!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" She wrote that she liked movies, was afraid of being alone and described her last mood as "lonely."
Gage said McCuin and Shearer had only been dating a few months. She remembered McCuin as an unflappably happy friend who had a knack for making her neighbors laugh.
"We really want to focus on her being a person who loved life, and not what happened to her," Gage said. "It was such a tragedy. We have to try to focus on the fact that Jana was a good person."
McCuin has a criminal record that includes driving while intoxicated and aggravated assault with a deadly weapon charges. When he was arrested, McCuin had an outstanding felony retaliation warrant.
Smith County Sheriff J.B. Smith said McCuin was known to authorities and had "a history of violence," including assaulting his estranged wife, his girlfriend and his sister.
Officials believe the horrific chain of events began when Shearer was taken by McCuin from her home late Friday night and killed.
McCuin was still at his estranged wife's home when deputies arrived, but he jumped into his car and escaped after a short chase, Smith said. "We did not know at the time that he had murdered anyone," Smith said. "We thought it was a disturbance or an assault."
McCuin wasn't seen again until Saturday morning, when he arrived at the home he shared with his mother and called her into the garage so she could "come see what he had done," Smith said.
His mother and her boyfriend saw the remains of Shearer, authorities said. McCuin's mother and her boyfriend fled the home and flagged down a police officer. McCuin dialed 911 after they left and told an emergency dispatcher he had killed Shearer and was boiling her body parts, Smith said.
Shearer appeared to have died from blunt trauma to her head, Smith said. She may have been kidnapped Friday night, when her mother saw her get into McCuin's truck.
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