Tamara Samsonova, 68, is accused of killing and dismembering at least three people. TCH/YouTube video screenshot

ST. PETERSBURG, Russia, Aug. 7 (UPI) -- Authorities in Russia said they are investigating whether a 68-year-old accused killer dubbed "Granny Ripper" may have been more akin to "Grannybal Lector."

Tamara Samsonova, 68, who was arrested in July, allegedly admitted to killing at least three people, dismembering them and spreading their body parts around the St. Petersburg area.


Police said Samsonova's diary contained her accounts of multiple slayings.

"I killed my tenant Volodya, cut him to pieces in the bathroom with a knife and put the pieces of his body in plastic bags and threw them away in the different parts of Frunzensky district," a diary entry reads.

Samsonova, who is also suspected of killing her husband, was recorded in CCTV footage carrying a black plastic bag believed to have contained the remains of a 79-year-old woman she had worked for as a caretaker.

"I am guilty and deserve a punishment," Samsonova told a judge during a court appearance last week.

The accused killer has been branded "Granny Ripper" by British tabloid The Sun, but "Grannybal Lector" could prove to be a more accurate nickname -- Investigative Committee officials said the recovered victims were missing some internal organs and investigators are looking into the possibility of cannibalism.

"It is not excluded [from the investigation]," officials told reporters.