Causeway Cannibal Identified; Fears Grow Over Drug Possibly Involved

UPDATED May 29th, 2012 5:27 p.m.

MIAMI (CBSMiami) – The crime shocked South Florida and has drawn the attention of the world. A naked man is shot by Miami Police while eating another naked man's face on the MacArthur Causeway.

As the story quickly went viral across the Internet, some have likened the attack to one by a zombie. Details of the unthinkable attack included police reporting that when they ordered the cannibal to stop, he looked up with blood on his face and growled at officers.

• Click here for the original story about the cannibalistic attack.

The suspected cannibal has been identified by the Miami-Dade County Medical Examiner's officer as 31-year-old Rudy Eugene. Eugene may have been homeless at the time of the attack, his last known address was in North Miami.

Eugene grew up in South Florida and attended North Miami Beach High in the late 90's, where he played for the school's football team according to CBS4 news partner The Miami Herald. He later transferred to North Miami Senior high.

Court records showed he was married to Jenny Ductant in 2005 and divorced two years later. Ductant declined to talk about her ex-husband when contacted by CBS4 reporter Gio Benitez

Since news of the attack first broke, the big question has been why did Eugene attack the other man, why were they naked, and why did the attacker turn into a cannibal on the causeway?

The president of the Miami Fraternal Order of Police, Armando Aguilar believes the entire incident is the fault of a new drug trend that has led to similar incidents. Emergency room doctors at Jackson Memorial Hospital said they too have seen a major increase in cases linked to the street drug called "bath salts" or what is sometimes referred to on the street as "the new LSD".

"We noticed an increase probably after Ultra Fest," said emergency room Dr. Paul Adams, at Jackson Memorial Hospital.

In many of the cases, Dr. Adams said the person's temperature has risen to an extremely high level, they've become very aggressive. Some have used their jaws as a weapon during attacks. Dr. Adams said the patients were in a state of delirium.

They were "Extremely strong, I took care of a 150 pound individual who you would have thought he was 250 pounds," Dr. Adams said. "It took six security officers to restrain the individual."

Adams said the extreme strength and violence of patients on "bath salts" has become a significant threat to all those charged with the task of trying to help those high on the drug, which unlike the original LSD is a stimulant.

"It's dangerous for the police," Adams said. "It's dangerous for the fire fighters. It's dangers for the hospital workers taking care of them because they come in, they have to be restrained both chemically and physically and you're asking for someone to get hurt."

Aguilar said drug dealers aren't aware that the liability could fall back on them.

"I have a message for whoever is selling it out there," said Aguilar. "You can be arrested for murder if you are selling this (new) LSD to people, unsuspecting people on the street and somebody ends up dying as a result you will be charged with murder."