An Alaska man who was supposedly struggling to pay his rent was arrested and accused over threats to abduct a US senator, tear “the flesh off” her body and wear her skin “as clothes.”
Federal officials said on Wednesday that 46-year-old Arther Graham threatened to kill an unnamed female senator in an online form post in which he said he was about to be evicted.
“Well, it’s after business hours and my landlady hasn’t delivered the eviction papers yet like she promised,” reads the bizarre message Graham allegedly sent at the end of September.
“She DID tell me to start looking somewhere else to live, so now I’m legally obligated to do that.”
“I’m in the dark here,” the message continued. “Until I get new information [Senator], my plan is ‘ima’ hunt you down, cut the flesh off your body and wear your skin like clothes.
“I’ll live inside of YOU [Senator]. I may as well because I ain’t got nowhere else to live.
“The bank is taking my parents’ house. When I inherit my mom’s municipal bonds, I’m going to use [them] as kindling to start my homeless-person campfire, when I inevitably become a homeless person like I was when I was a little boy.
“Also I’m gonna cut off your skin and wear it as clothes,” it concludes. “Oops, I said that already. Someone call the police.”
The federal indictment does not say which lawmaker Graham was trying to reach out to. Lisa Murkowski and Dan Sullivan, both Republicans, are Alaska’s senators.
On October 2, congressional personnel working in the senator’s office reported receiving a threatening letter to the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Capitol Police, according to federal officials.
On October 2, members of Congress and their staff reported receiving a threatening communication to the FBI and the Capitol Police, according to federal officials.
A subpoena for the email listed in the submission form eventually led investigators to Graham, who had allegedly used a different phone number and address — but signed the message with his full name, according to NBC News.
Graham allegedly acknowledged to contacting the senator during an interview with FBI investigators at his house in Kenai, Alaska.
He apparently also informed the agents that sending the message was against federal law.
Graham was taken into custody on October 30 and charged with threatening kidnapping and bodily injury via interstate communications. On Friday afternoon, he was scheduled to appear in federal court.
Graham faces up to five years in prison if he is found guilty.
