Cannibal Victim Ronald Poppo: Sister Thought He was Dead for Long Time
Miami zombie attack victim Ronald Poppo remains in critical condition after having over 75 percent of his face eaten off by possessed Rudy Eugene. Poppo, 65, is believed to have been homeless for over 30 years. His sister, Antoinette Poppo, spoke to CBS, about her brother. She explained to CBS: "I remember a very intelligent boy. He went to a private school, and I really don't understand what happened."
SEE VIDEO OF CAUSEWAY CANNIBAL RUDY EUGENE
Poppo attended the prestigious Stuyvesant High School in Lower Manhattan and had been part of the Latin Club. A yearbook obtained by the New York Daily News shows that Poppo was a star student there.
Antoinette recalls that their family were involved in a serious car accident in New York when he was only nine years old. But after Ronald graduated from Stuyvesant High, his family lost touch with him and haven't heard from him in 30 years.
"Well, I tried to reach him, but I just thought he killed himself," Antoinette said to CBS, who seemed very upset about the whole thing. "And we really thought he was no longer on this earth."
His record of petty arrests indicate that he had been on the streets of Miami for over 30 years. He was arrested 24 times for drinking, trespassing, felony, burglary, and assault. His permanent place to hang out seemed to have been under the Miami highway where he was attacked by cannibal Eugene Rudy.
Experts say that if Poppo was to recover, his face will be permanently disfigured and that he will face a bigger threat from infection rather than the injuries from the attack, according to Fox News. It seems that he will pull through but will require months of treatment to rebuild his facial features.
Dr. Seth Thaller, the chief of plastic and reconstructive surgery at the University of Miami's Miller School of Medicine told Fox that the "human mouth is basically filthy" so those germs from Eugene's mouth pose the most serious risk.
Poppo bled heavily from his injuries after having strips of flesh ripped off and eaten by Eugene, who continued to growl and carry out his attack. His nose and eyes were gouged out and the only thing remaining was his goatee.
