Parole denied for woman who ate husband

CHOWCHILLA, Calif., Oct. 6 (UPI) -- A two-person California parole panel denied the release of a woman who was convicted of killing and eating her husband's body in 1991.

Omaima Nelson, 43, was deemed a risk to society and denied parole Wednesday, the Los Angeles Times reported.

Nelson, originally from Egypt, was convicted for stabbing her husband, William Nelson, with a pair of scissors in 1991, killing him. She later cooked and ate his remains.

Nelson maintains that she killed her husband in self defense.

"If I didn't defend my life, I would have been dead. I'm sorry it happened, but I'm glad I lived," she said Wednesday. "I'm sorry I dismembered him."

At the parole hearing at the Central California Women's Facility in Chowchilla, Nelson denied eating her husband.

"I swear to God I did not eat any part of him. I am not a monster," she said.

Nelson said she "looked for love in all the wrong places ... but now I value my integrity and my journey.... I have a strong desire to help others."

Margaret Nelson, William Nelson's daughter, was the last person to speak at the hearing.

"I don't know the adequate punishment for a murderer who doesn't even leave a family a body to mourn over. But I do know you don't let her out," she said.