The cannibal killer who ate a man’s eyeball and part of his brain while drinking sake has been granted conditional release – sparking outrage from lawmakers and the victim’s family. 

Tyree Smith, 35, was previously found not guilty by reason of insanity of slaughtering Angel ‘Tun Tun’ Gonzalez with a hatchet and eating his body parts in December 2011. 

The state’s Psychiatric Security Review Board (PSRB) decided Smith would be allowed to leave Connecticut Valley Hospital in Middletown on Friday. He was originally set to stay at a maximum-security mental facility for 60 years. 

But the controversial verdict from the hospital board elicited outrage.

‘Murder and cannibalism and release in the same sentence. That’s a problem. That’s concerning to me,’ State Senator Paul Cicarella told WFSB. 

A forensic psychiatrist convinced the review board that Smith’s schizophrenia, along with his drug and alcohol disorders, are under control due to his treatment. 

‘To quote the director there, he is a joy. He is considered a support to the other people there,’ Dr. Caren Teitelbaum said, according to WFSB. 

Tyree Smith, 35, was found not guilty by reason of insanity of slaughtering Angel ‘Tun Tun’ Gonzalez

Angel ‘Tun Tun’ Gonzalez died in December 2011, but his mangled body was not found until January 2012

‘Once he was stable he was a really calming presence for other patients.’

His conditional release means he will live in a communal setting under strict supervision while he continues treatment. 

Officials said Smith has already been living a community facility, but Friday’s ruling formally discharged him from Whiting Forensic Hospital, the Times Union reported. 

According to News 12, he has been living in a Waterbury group home since the PSRB said he was ‘stabilized’ in 2023.

Teitelbaum reiterated: ‘He has maintained clinical stability. Adhered to the medications and continued to engage in group and substance abuse treatment.

‘He also denied visual hallucinations and a desire to harm others or himself.’

But the doctors admitted that if Smith goes off his medication, he could become a dangerous threat to society, WFSB reported. 

Gonzalez’s mangled body was found in a vacant Bridgeport apartment where Smith lived as a child in January 2012. 

Smith’s cousin Nicole Rabb testified that the day before Smith killed his victim, he went to Rabb’s house and ranted about Greek gods and wanting to get ‘blood on his hands.’

Smith killed the homeless victim in his childhood home in Bridgeport, Connecticut  

Gonzalez’s family has expressed horror and outrage over Friday’s verdict 

The next day, he showed up to her home again – this time covered in blood and holding a weapon. 

He told her about the gory details of the killing including eating the victim’s organs while consuming the Japanese rice wine, saying he had ‘gotten his blood.’

Smith reportedly described to Rabb that the eye ‘tasted like an oyster’ and he consumed the body parts at a cemetery after bashing Gonzalez’s face and head with an axe, according to court records. 

A three-judge Bridgeport panel ruled that Smith would be institutionalized in July 2013. 

They agreed Smith had killed and ingested parts of Gonzalez, who was a homeless man, but it was not technically murder because Smith was mentally ill. 

Superior Court Judge John Kavanewsky did not grant Smith release at the time because he believed the culprit was a danger to himself and others. 

More than a decade later, it appears the tides have changed, but not everyone is on board with the psychiatrists’ choice. 

Smith had told his cousin that he had ‘gotten his blood’ after committing the gut-wrenching act 

Smith was originally sentence to 60 years in a maximum-security psychiatric hospital, but was taken to a group home in 2023. Friday’s decision only made his transition back into society official 

‘This terrible decision puts public safety in jeopardy and is yet another terrible message to send to CT violent crime victims and their families,’ Senators Heather Somers, Cicarella, Henri Martin and Stephen Harding said in a statement.    

‘This person should never be out,’ the Republican lawmakers asserted, adding that the verdict is ‘outrageous’ and ‘mind-boggling,’ the Times Union reported. 

One of Gonzalez’s heartbroken relatives expressed unrest with the idea of Smith being released before the decision was officially made. 

Talitha Frazier, Gonzalez’s sister-in-law, said during a previous hearing: ‘How do we really know he’s not going to do this again?’

She also revealed that his family is horrified about Smith’s release.

‘His grandkids are scared. His daughter is scared she couldn’t come today, her sugar dropped to 52,’ she told WFSB on Friday.

Smith apologized for Gonzalez’s death in court just before he was found not guilty by reason of insanity in 2013. 

He said: ‘I’m really sorry for what I did, that I couldn’t be myself. It really had nothing to do with the other person.

Talitha Frazier, Gonzalez’s sister-in-law, said during a previous hearing: ‘How do we really know he’s not going to do this again?’

Gonzalez’s family is scared that Smith has been granted release, Frazier said 

At the time, Frazier burst into tears and said she was stunned by Smith’s regretful admission. 

‘We waited two years to hear Tyree say he was sorry,’ she said to the Connecticut Post. 

‘What he said today caught me off-guard, but I feel he meant what he said.’