Texas Christian University Police are warning the Fort Worth campus about a man who once dismembered a corpse and may have been near campus last month when he threatened to attack a random woman.
The man, Daniel Staley, was arrested after the threat and forced to undergo a mental exam but was released from a hospital on Wednesday, police said.
"It's definitely creepy," said TCU senior Alaina Martens, who added she and her roommates don't plan to walk alone.
Staley was apparently near TCU last month when he texted a crisis hotline, saying he planned to kill a woman with a hammer and cut up her body, police said.
Staley has a long history of mental illness.
In 2010, he dug up a corpse at a Pleasant Grove cemetery, cut off the foot, and then presented it to a police officer. He was found not guilty by reason of insanity and sent to a mental hospital.
He was released three years later.
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According to NBC 5's media partners at The Dallas Morning News, Staley's family said as a young boy, he tortured small birds, frogs and other animals.
At about age 14, he was so hard to control, his parents put him in state custody, the family said.
In 2009, his father told the News, Staley called from the hospital, going into great detail about his plans to torture someone.
Police said there are no charges against Staley and no legal reason to detain him.
"You can't punish somebody for their thoughts, so it's a difficult situation," said recent TCU graduate Rebecca Wesley.
