Texas Campus Knife Attack Suspect Fantasized about Cannibalism, Necrophilia

Dylan Quick, 20, also said he had fantasies about cutting off people's faces and wearing them as masks, a court document made public Thursday said.

A man accused of stabbing more than a dozen people at a Houston-area college told investigators that he had fantasized about cannibalism and necrophilia and about cutting off people's faces and wearing them as masks, according to a court document made public on Thursday.

Dylan Quick admitted to an investigator that about week before the attack at Lone Star Community College in Cypress he had researched mass stabbings on his home computer, according to a search warrant affidavit.

"He stated he had read numerous books about mass killings and serial killers which are also located at his residence," the affidavit said.

Quick is being held without bond on three counts of aggravated assault for Tuesday's attack at Lone Star College that injured 14 people. Only one person remained hospitalized Thursday, and that person was listed in good condition.

The affidavit listed nine items that were seized from Quick's home, including one listed as "Hanibal Lecter Mask." Hannibal Lecter is the cannibalistic serial killer from the film "The Silence of the Lambs."

Also among the nine items seized were an animal dissection kit and several books including one called "Hit List" and another titled "Hitman." The affidavit does not say what the books are about.

The affidavit said Quick told the investigator that in preparing for the campus attack, he had sharpened things, including a hairbrush and pencils, to use as weapons.

Authorities have said Quick used only a razor utility knife to slash at his victims on two floors of the college's health science building.

After a brief court hearing earlier Thursday, Jules Laird, Quick's attorney, said he was still looking into Quick's background but that he didn't think the 20-year-old had a history of mental illness or had taken any medication to treat such a condition.

"My job is to find out very tough answers to tough questions. Why did this happen? What made it occur? What's going on with him?" Laird said after a brief court hearing Thursday.

"Not every question has an answer that satisfies you or that says this is the root cause of why he did this ... with a knife. We are going to see if we can reach that," Laird said.

Harris County authorities have said Quick told them he had been fantasizing for years about stabbing people.

"They've got a statement from him, but that's not the whole story," Laird said.

Quick had been set to make his first court appearance Thursday since Tuesday's attack, but Laird waived the reading of the probable cause statement so his client would not have to be in court.

"We just didn't want to have a media circus at this point in time," Laird said.

Quick's next court hearing is May 10.

Laird said Quick had been home-schooled for most of his life and described him as a voracious reader who had thousands of books. He added that Quick had been enrolled at Lone Star in part so he could be around other people and "get some type of feel for what the rest of the world is like as opposed to just living at home ... and being home-schooled by his mother."

Laird said Quick's parents hadn't had any major problems with their son, though he did apparently go missing for a few days in January 2011.

Quick's parents had contacted Texas EquuSearch, a private Houston-area group that searches for missing people, after getting a text message from their son saying "he was leaving because he might possibly harm himself," said Frank Black, a case adviser with the organization.

Black said he and others with his group were set to begin a search for Quick when his parents contacted them three days after the initial report, saying they had found their son and he was safe.

Quick had apparently been staying on the Lone Star college campus and some security guards had given him food and a tent to sleep in, Black said.

Laird said Quick's parents are devastated by the accusations made against their son.

Quick's mother is "the person that knows him more than anybody else in the world. And so, what she knows of him does not fit with what happened (Tuesday). She loves him dearly and his dad loves him dearly. And both of them do not understand what happened," he said.

Neighbors and officials at the school also have been at a loss to explain the allegations made against Quick. They have described him as friendly but also withdrawn.

Copyright AP - Associated Press
Contact Us