Suspect in Maryland cannibalism case was accused in separate assault June 1, 2012 -- Updated 1733 GMT (0133 HKT) The 21-year-old college student is being held without bail He was charged on May 20 with first-degree assault in a separate case Police say he admits killing his housemate and eating the man's heart (CNN) -- A Maryland college student who police say admitted killing and then eating parts of his housemate was charged five days before that crime in a separate assault case, court records show. Alexander Kinyua, 21, was being held without bail Friday at the Harford County Detention Center after being charged a day earlier with first-degree murder, first-degree assault and second-degree assault in the alleged cannibalism case. Calls to his public defender Friday morning were not immediately returned. Harford County Sheriff Jesse Bane told reporters Thursday that Kinyua admitted killing his housemate, cutting him up, and then eating his heart and part of his brain. 'Zombie apocalypse' trending as bad news spreads quickly According to the Harford County District Court case record, the killing occurred on May 25. Five days earlier, Kinyua was charged with first-degree assault and reckless endangerment in another case, a separate court record shows. The earlier assault occurred on May 19, according to the case record, which said Kinyua lived in the Baltimore neighborhood of Joppatowne. According to police and the charging document, Kinyua has admitted killing his housemate, Kujoe Bonsafo Agyei-Kodie. On Tuesday, Antony Kinyua -- Alexander Kinyua's father -- called a Harford County detective assigned to a missing person's case and told him about a gruesome discovery made by another of his sons, the charging document states. The other son explained to the detective how he had come across two metal tins covered by a blanket in the basement laundry room of Agyei-Kodie's Joppatowne residence. He opened the tins and found a human head and two hands. Two Harford County detectives later arrived and discovered the head and hands on the home's main floor. "He admitted to killing our missing person, Mr. Kodie, and cutting him up with a knife," Bane said. The suspect told detectives to go to the parking lot of the nearby Town Baptist Church, where they could -- and did -- find the rest of Agyei-Kodie's remains in a Dumpster. A missing person's report filed May 26 described Agyei-Kodie, 37, as "very intelligent." He had earned multiple master's degrees from schools in Ghana and was also a graduate student at Morgan State University, though he wasn't taking classes there at the time of his death.