Daniel Rakowitz, 65, who was found not criminally responsible for killing and dismembering his roommate Monika Beerle in 1989, has reportedly been transferred from a maximum-security psychiatric facility to a lower-security centre on New York’s Wards Island. The reported move has prompted speculation among hospital employees that he could eventually be considered for release, although there is no confirmation that this is imminent.

Rakowitz was committed to Kirby Forensic Psychiatric Center after his 1991 trial, during which a witness said he had fed Beerle’s remains to homeless people. The New York State Office of Mental Health declined to confirm the transfer, citing privacy laws; Rakowitz had previously been refused a move to a less secure facility in 2010. The article also discusses Sunny Hostin’s claim that she was the holdout juror in his trial, a detail later disputed by contemporary newspaper reports.