Miami cannibal attack
cannibalistic attack on a person
On May 26, 2012, Rudy Eugene attacked and maimed Ronald Poppo, a homeless man, on the MacArthur Causeway in Miami, Florida. During the 18-minute filmed encounter, Eugene accused Poppo of stealing his Bible, beat him unconscious, removed his pants, and bit off most of Poppo's face above his beard (including his left eye), leaving him blind in both eyes. As a result of the incident's shocking nature and subsequent worldwide media coverage, Eugene came to be dubbed the "Miami Zombie" and the "Causeway Cannibal." The attack ended when Eugene was fatally shot by an officer of the Miami Police Department.
Although friends and family filled in details of Eugene's life, the reason for the attack remains unclear. Eugene, 31, employed at a car wash at the time, was divorced and had a series of petty criminal arrests from age 16, with the last in 2009. While police sources speculated that the use of a street drug like "bath salts" might have been a factor, experts expressed doubt. Toxicology reports were not able to identify the drugs found in this stomach. Poppo, 65, a graduate of Manhattan's Stuyvesant High School, was homeless and had long been presumed dead by his estranged family.
Attack
On the morning of May 26, 2012, 31-year-old Rudy Eugene drove to Miami Beach, Florida, to Urban Beach Week. After spending 30–40 minutes at the site, as filmed on security video in and around the car, he abandoned it around noon and began to cross the 3-mile-long (4.8 km) span of the MacArthur Causeway, stripping himself of his clothing and disposing of his driver's license as he advanced westward, according to eyewitnesses.
The public source identifies “Miami cannibal attack” as cannibalistic attack on a person. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Miami, cannibal and attack.
Why this record matters
A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “Miami cannibal attack”, the useful work is to connect “cannibalistic attack on a person” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.
Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 31, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q3272384. Authority coordinates are 25.787, -80.187. None of the 1 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 2012 and 2009.
Overview language is designed for orientation and should not be treated as a substitute for the evidence cited beneath it. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.
- Subject orientation
- Search vocabulary
- Locating named sources
The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Miami cannibal attack”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Miami cannibal attack primary sources, Miami cannibal attack archive and Miami research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Miami cannibal attack”?
- Which cited source is closest to the event, object or claim?
- Which institution is responsible for the underlying evidence?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Miami cannibal attack” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.