Where is Big Lurch? The rapper who murdered and ate his roommate
Towards the end of the ’90s and into the 2000s, Big Lurch, a rapper from Dallas, was beginning to make a name for himself in the music industry. But, by 2002, things were derailed in the most horrifying conceivable way.
This man, who was 25 at the time, committed the most disgusting, appalling of crimes. He murdered his housemate, a 21-year-old woman, in a terrible frenzy of violence. But he didn’t stop there. Having slain the young woman, he began to eat the remains.
The history of rap music is soaked in blood and murder, but this story ranks among the most disturbing of them all. It is truly appalling.
Lurch started rapping in a group called Cosmic Slop Shop, but, by 1999, things had become untenable within the group. They split and Lurch set off on his own to launch a solo career, but, on April 10, 2002, the prospect of it ever truly taking off was ended.
Tynisha Ysais was a young woman who, along with her boyfriend, lived in the same house as Lurch. But late on that fateful date, a friend called over to their place and found her dead and mutilated. Her chest had been torn apart, a blade was lodged in her shoulder blade, and teeth marks marked her face and lungs, which had been ripped out.
The nightmarish scene was completed when this poor friend encountered Big Lurch, standing naked and bloodsoaked on the street, looking up at the sky above. A medical examination later found human flesh in his stomach.
The boyfriend of Ysais later confirmed that he and the rapper had taken PCP before this awful crime had taken place. This later formed the basis of Lurch’s defence in court, with his legal representatives arguing that he’d been in a psychotic state because of the PCP.
This was not found to be a sufficient argument. The judge decided that the drug use did not justify an insanity plea, and, on November 7, 2003, he was sentenced to life in prison. There was to never be a possibility of parole.
Big Lurch remains in jail, held at California State Prison in Los Angeles County. He would be 49 by now, having spent nearly the same proportion of his life in jail as he ever did outside of it.