Ex-model who cut up husband, ate body parts, is denied parole

A woman who killed her husband, then chopped up, cooked and bagged parts of his body with leftover Thanksgiving turkey, was denied parole Wednesday in a lengthy and, at times, emotional hearing.

Omaima Nelson, 43, a former model commonly compared to the fictional cannibal Hannibal Lecter at the time of the 1991 murder in Costa Mesa, said she was a changed woman, eager to live the "good life God meant."

The parole hearing was held at the Central California Women's Facility in Chowchilla, northwest of Fresno, where Nelson is serving a sentence of 27 years to life.