A lodger has admitted killing a man during a row over a game of chess - and is said to have eaten his victim's heart.
Saverio Bellante claimed to have eaten his landlord's organ after a violent argument.
But a post-mortem found that while one lung was missing, the heart was intact.
The examination found that a lung was removed from the body of researcher Tom O'Gorman, 39, during the attack and had not yet been located, the Irish Independent reported, citing an undisclosed source.
Mr O’Gorman’s body was found with multiple stab wounds at his home in Beech Park Avenue, Castleknock, in north Dublin, where the accused had been living as a tenant. He had also been beaten several times over the head with a dumbbell.
Bellante, 34, originally from Palermo on the Italian island of Sicily, has been charged with murder.
The paper said it had not been possible to establish whether Mr O'Gorman was already dead before his body was mutilated.
Irish police were alerted to the killing when the accused, who was described as "calm," phoned emergency services at 1.50am on Sunday.
Bellante appeared before Blanchardstown District Court on Monday. Detective Garda Patrick Traynor told the court that Bellante admitted the murder when he was cautioned.
Judge David McHugh ordered that he undergo a medical assessment.
It is understood Mr O'Gorman was a former journalist with The Voice Today, a Roman Catholic newspaper.
A graduate of University College Dublin, he had more recently been a researcher with the Dublin-based Catholic lobby group the Iona Institute for seven years, and is believed to have taken in a lodger in recent months to help supplement his income.
David Quinn, director of The Iona Institute, said Mr O'Gorman's friends and colleagues were left devastated by his death.
"On behalf of everyone at The Iona Institute, I would like to express our total shock and deep sorrow at the terrible and untimely death of Tom O'Gorman," he said.
"Tom was a friend as well as a work colleague to us all. He was a fond and dear friend and we will all miss him.
It is not thought alcohol or drugs were involved in the incident.
