A former college soccer player from New Jersey who chewed off an elderly man’s ear and face in a gruesome attack on an Oregon train platform was sentenced Wednesday to more than three years in prison.
Koryn Kraemer, now 27, attacked the 78-year-old victim — whom he believed to be a killer “robot” — at the Cleveland Avenue MAX station in Portland about 2 a.m. on Jan. 3, 2023.
Both the defense and the prosecution attributed the grisly violence to Kraemer’s schizophrenia, for which he is now receiving treatment, according to OregonLive.
“I feel really horribly about what happened, and I know now that by medicating my condition I’ll be able to manage my illness and ensure that nothing violent happens in the future,” Kraemer told Multnomah County Circuit Judge Shelley Russell on Wednesday.
The former college athlete was admittedly under the influence of alcohol, marijuana and fentanyl when he approached the man and sunk his teeth in him.
By the time police arrived at the scene, Kraemer had chewed off the man’s ear and bitten the skin off his face to the point of exposing his skull.
He spat out the victim’s flesh on the tracks and claimed police “saved his life by separating him from ‘the robot,” according to documents.
The victim was hospitalized in stable condition, but has since died from unrelated causes, according to KATU.
Kraemer was found mentally unfit to stand trial after his arrest, court records show. He spent four months in the Oregon State Hospital where he was prescribed medicine to treat schizophrenia, he said during his sentencing hearing.
He grew up in Westfield, New Jersey, and previously attended Oberlin College in Ohio, where he was a goalie on the men’s soccer team in 2015 and 2016.
Kraemer had previously been arrested in Georgia, according to OregonLive.
“He is appropriately embarrassed and remorseful for things that occurred when he wasn’t in his right state of mind,” Walsh said.
Kraemer plans to return to New Jersey and live with family after serving out his sentence, the attorney added.
He was initially charged with felony assault, but pleaded guilty to one count of second-degree attempted assault as part of a bargain with prosecutors.
He was sentenced to 40 months behind bars with credit for time served and the possibility of time off for good behavior.
He will spend nearly two years under supervision after he’s released, which could be as early as next summer.
