Tag: police

Another Serial Cat Killer, This Time Fresh From Prison, Goes Right Back To Killing Strays. Clearly, Existing Laws Are Not Enough

When serial cat killers serve sentences of less than a year due to plea deals and early release for good behavior, how much deterrent value do our laws have? Not much, it seems.

Note, 5/3/2025: We’ve heard from two readers who say the MyNorthWest report contains inaccuracies. We’ve reached out to the police and will follow up with police and courts on Monday to verify the facts and correct potential misinformation. Apologies for the confusion.

Every couple of months, at least in the last year or two, I’ve slowed down on posting, and almost always for the same reason: my cat-related news alerts are  seemingly endless streams of depressing stories about people shooting, strangling or dismembering cats.

It never ends, and sometimes it’s so overwhelming that I’m put off from writing for days. At the same time, I am not a believer in the idea that all animal blogs should be saccharine feel-good fests about fluffy kittens and TikTok videos of cats doing silly things.

There’s always a place for celebrating cats, but if they’re in danger, and if the stories point to wider trends that cat lovers should know about, then I think it’s our responsibility to remain educated. Not only so we can guard against threats to our little friends, but also so we can add our voices to the chorus calling for tougher laws and greater accountability.

That’s ultimately what this is about: accountability.

Stories about two cat serial killers in about a week have made it clear that even the strengthened animal protection law — the Preventing Animal Cruelty, or PACT Act — passed in 2019, during the first Trump administration, raising animal cruelty and murder to the level of a felony, are still not enough. They’re not a deterrent, especially when the convicted abusers and killers end up serving a year or less because prisons are overcrowded and the wider law enforcement community still doesn’t take animal-related crime as seriously as other violence.

Antoine Leander Runner Jr. is a serial murderer of cats. The Seattle man was recently released from prison after serving just a year for a felony animal cruelty conviction.

The 43-year-old’s modus operandi was setting up crude, homemade snares and traps to capture and harm felines. He was also known in cat rescue circles, where he posed as a cat lover and took advantage of programs to get free supplies, including “cat food, kennels, collars, leashes, and treats to lure cats and kill them,” according to MyNorthWest, a Seattle news site.

When locals discovered new homemade traps in Runner Jr.’s old haunts and trail cameras picked up images of the man himself stalking wooded areas, neighbors called police and area shelters. The evidence showed Runner Jr. was allegedly visiting cat colonies at night and had picked up right where he left off. One colony cat’s body was discovered on March 31, “disemboweled and publicly displayed.”

“Animal Control confirmed the injuries to the cats were human-caused,” MyNorthWest reported, adding that it appears Runner Jr. was visiting colonies “every night” to hunt cats.

Above images by u/picardhasyourback, posted to the SeattleWA subreddit. Click on the images to see full-size versions.

Runner Jr. was picked up by Seattle police this weekend after a neighbor spotted him in a wooded area and phoned authorities. The convicted cat killer, who had a new bench warrant out for his arrest, was charged with a misdemeanor, but more charges are likely as police investigate his latest alleged attacks on Seattle-area cats.

The Seattle man was originally arrested for killing cats in 2023, but was released early. The Seattle area was also terrorized by a serial cat killer who stalked the area in 2018, mutilating cats so badly that I won’t repeat the details on this blog out of respect for readers.

It should be made clear that Runner Jr. was not connected to the 2018 killings, but police should reconsider those cases as well because if it turns out Runner Jr. is guilty of these latest cat murders, it will be abundantly clear that he is a high recidivist offender who cannot be trusted to leave the animals alone. He should serve a long, unabridged prison sentence and be subject to constant monitoring when he’s released.

Antoine Leander Runner Jr. was arrested this weekend by Seattle police. Credit: Sarah Seiler/Facebook Georgetown Community Discussion Group

What’s the solution here? Increasingly tough criminal penalties for animal abuse and murder? Expensive monitoring equipment to watch over every cat colony? Education and training for law enforcement so violence toward animals is taken as seriously as it should be?

I hate to keep pointing out that people who harm animals are likely to “graduate” to harming humans, as many studies have shown, because it implies that we should only be concerned about animal abuse for its tendency to turn into human abuse. It obscures the fact that animal life is intrinsically valuable, and that cats — and dogs, many bird species, mammals and marine life — are sentient, with their own thoughts and emotions. But if that’s what it takes for people to take this sort of thing seriously, then it’s worth repeating the point.

Worst Fears Confirmed As Cops Find ‘Dozens’ Of Dead Felines In Accused Cat Killer’s California Home

The suspect had been spotted by several people who live in the neighborhood, who said they saw him luring cats with food and injecting at least one feline with a needle.

For the past two years, people in Santa Ana, California, have sworn there was a serial cat killer in their midst.

The allegations picked up steam this week after a local TV station aired a segment from angry and confused neighbors whose pets disappeared, as well as others who saw the suspect injecting at least one cat and scooping up others. The neighbors shared information on a hyper local platform, zeroing in on one particular neighbor.

On Wednesday, the Santa Ana Police Department arrested 45-year-old Alejandro Oliveros Acosta and charged him with felony animal cruelty in connection with the case. Investigators were able to put together enough information to obtain a warrant, and a search of Acosta’s home turned up the corpses of “dozens” of cats, according to Officer Natalie Garcia, public information officer at the Santa Ana Police Department.

Heartbreakingly, Garcia said there were too many bodies in Acosta’s home for police to put an exact number on how many cats he’s allegedly killed. Police are still putting together the details, and more charges are likely.

A press release from Santa Ana police says the department is working with animal control and a neighboring police department. In addition to the evidence they collected in Acosta’s home, several neighbors positively identified Acosta as the man they saw luring neighborhood cats with food, scooping up a breed cat, and injecting another. One cat was left hanging from a tree, while others simply disappeared, preventing their people from finding closure.

“I saw this same man grab [a] neighbor’s cat, inject it with a needle and some sort of substance,” one local told KTTV, a Fox affiliate in Los Angeles. “And [the neighbor] saw him and she yelled, ‘Hey!’ at him to get his attention. He got up and ran, jumped in his truck and left. And from what we know that cat died, and the owner went and put in a police report.”

Santa Ana is about 10 miles southeast of Anaheim, not far from Long Beach. Acosta was charged and sent to county jail. It wasn’t immediately clear if he’d retained an attorney.

NY Sanctuary Founder, As Many As 100 Cats Feared Dead In ‘Suspicious’ Fire

Chris Arsenault ran back into the fire in an attempt to save more cats and never reemerged.

A man who founded a cat sanctuary to honor the legacy of his deceased son was killed, along with some 100 of the cats he cared for, in a raging fire Monday morning.

Christopher Arsenault, 65, lived on the premises of the Happy Cat sanctuary in Medford, along with about 300 cats he’d saved from euthanasia, dangerous situations and difficult lives as strays.

Firefighters were dispatched a few minutes after 7 am and it took them an hour and 20 minutes to bring the powerful blaze under control. Arsenault was able to get out of the main structure on the Suffolk County, Long Island, compound, but dashed back in to save more of his cats, according to neighbors who witnessed the fire.

Chris Arsenault at Happy Cat sanctuary. Credit: Happy Cat Sanctuary

The Suffolk County homicide and arson investigation squads are assigned to the case, Suffolk police Chief of Detectives  William Doherty told the New  York Post.

However, it can take weeks for lab results from the state police crime lab in Albany, and fire investigators will need to comb through the remains of the ruined structure and the rubble to find a point of origin.

“It’s too early in the investigation to determine any cause,” Doherty told the Post.

The grounds and facilities at Happy Cat sanctuary were meticulously maintained, but that did not stop some in the community from complaining about the existence of the sanctuary.

Arsenault “vowed to take the unwanted, discarded, homeless [cats], the ones that people were going to euthanize, he refused and he took them into his sanctuary, sometimes for no money at all,” Lisa Jaeger, a local cat rescuer who worked with Arsenault, told NBC New York. “He started the sanctuary [in 2007]. This was his life. He gave his life to save these cats.”

The sanctuary’s Facebook page was flooded with an outpouring of grief on Monday from people who knew and supported Arsenault.

“He was always so concerned about each and every single cat he had in his care. Didn’t matter how many… they were all his babies,” one distraught woman wrote. “To think he literally lost his life trying to save them breaks my heart and makes all the sense in the world that he would never leave them behind.”

Local rescuers and the county SPCA were trying to corral the surviving 200 cats on Monday. Some fled the grounds during the fire and remained unaccounted for, while others remained close to the destroyed sanctuary despite the chaos and the significant amount of activity from first responders.

Despite his efforts, Arsenault was the subject of a harassment campaign on social media from neighbors and a small group of people who alleged Arsenault wasn’t properly caring for cats. There’s no evidence to back up those claims, and Happy Cat has not been the subject of any violations.

A petition on Change.org posted last year demanded a stop to the alleged harassment of Arsenault by neighbors and a local code enforcement officer. It garnered 28,665 verified signatures.

Despite locals standing up for him, Arsenault had found a piece of property in upstate New York and was preparing to move his cats and sanctuary to that location.

John DeBacker, who participates in local trap, neuter, return (TNR) efforts, referenced the push back against Happy Cat in a post about the fire on Monday.

“Despite being harassed for months, he continued to fight for the cats,” the post read, “and I truly hope everyone can screenshot posts from one of the groups that has been harassing him in case arson is connected.”

An outdoor area at Happy Cat sanctuary. Credit: Happy Cat Sanctuary

It’s important to note that there is no evidence connecting any of the critics to the fire, authorities have not commented on the source of the fire, and any speculation about the cause is just that: speculation. It’s also important to emphasize that just because police homicide and arson squads are investigating an incident does not mean either of those crimes has taken place. Authorities won’t know anything for sure until they can thoroughly investigate the fire scene and get lab reports on evidence.

Arsenault himself said he felt compelled to respond to critics last month in a video he posted to Youtube.

“The audacity of these people to call Happy Cat sanctuary a hoarding situation, to be claiming that we’re committing animal abuse and animal neglect,” he said “The cats that I see…these are cats that are out there and have nowhere to go. These are cats that are suffering out there. And this is where sanctuaries come in … Right now [the critics are] just taking a big handful of spaghetti, and they’re just throwing it up against the wall to see what sticks to come after Happy Cat sanctuary.”

Diocese Suspends Priest For Allegedly Drowning Cats After Animal Cruelty Arrest

The bishop of Little Rock called the allegations “disturbing” and said Thessing would not serve his two home parishes while the criminal case plays out.

An Arkansas priest was suspended by his diocese this week, one day after police found dead cats during a search of his home.

Charles Thessing, a 63-year-old “senior priest” and pastor at St. Michael Church in West Memphis and Sacred Heart Church in nearby Crawfordsville, was charged with two felonies on Tuesday. Police, working from information provided by a tipster, found a pair of dead cats, a water tank where Thessing allegedly drowned the felines, and animal traps, according to the West Memphis Police Department.

The Rev. Charles Thessing. Credit: Diocese of Little Rock

The tipster initially contacted a shelter on Feb. 7 with the information, according to police.

“We were very fortunate that someone, a concerned citizen brought our attention to the situation and we addressed it immediately,” Kerry Facello, Director of West Memphis Animal Services, told local CBS affiliate WREG. “The West Memphis Police Department worked so fast in obtaining a search warrant and allowing us to investigate further and see exactly what was going on.”

In a letter to parishioners at St. Michael and Sacred Heart, Diocese of Little Rock Bishop Anthony Taylor confirmed the arrest, adding “the allegations are disturbing, and as your bishop I take them very seriously.”

“Having heard from numerous voices within the parish, the school, and the broader community; having consulted with others; and having given this matter much prayer and consideration, I have determined that Fr. Thessing cannot continue serving as an effective pastor for your parishes,” Taylor wrote.

Thessing also has supporters, Taylor noted, while asking for parishioners to pray for the priest.

Thessing’s mugshot. Credit: West Memphis Police Department

Thessing, who has not spoken publicly since his arrest, smiled in his mugshot, which was released by West Memphis police. Per the bishop, Thessing will not minister to his parishes or perform any of his regular duties while the case reaches a disposition. The bishop did not say what could happen if Thessing pleads to the charges or is found guilty.

Thessing has been a priest for 37 years, according to the diocese.

Police say their investigation is ongoing, and they’re asking anyone with more information about Thessing to contact them. Under Arkansas state law, aggravated cruelty to animals is defined as “knowingly torturing a dog, cat, or equine,” and is a felony.

If Thessing drowned the cats, as police allege, that would put him at odds with the church. Pope Francis has been particularly outspoken on animal welfare. He was born Jorge Mario Bergoglio, and chose Francis as his name for his papacy, after the Catholic patron saint of animals.

His 2015 encyclical, Laudato Si, was the church’s strongest and most unambiguous condemnation of human treatment of animals, including cruelty, factory farming, exploitation and pushing animals toward extinction with our behavior and our public policies.

In the encyclical, Pope Francis condemned “tyrannical anthropocentrism unconcerned for other creatures” and stated clearly that animal life has intrinsic value, rejecting the argument often used by literalists who claim that God, through Bible verses like Genesis 1:26, created animals and the Earth for our use, as if they’re merely tools or resources for the advancement of the human race.

“[N]owadays we must forcefully reject the notion that our being created in God’s image and given dominion over the earth justifies absolute domination over other creatures,” the pope wrote.

He also echoed psychological concerns about the mistreatment of animals as a strong indicator that a person will harm humans.

“We have only one heart,” Francis wrote, “and the same wretchedness which leads us to mistreat an animal will not be long in showing itself in our relationships with other people.”

UK Pol Resigns After He Was Filmed Trying To Kill Cat With Explosives

The cat survived but her personality has radically changed from loving and affectionate to distant and wary, her human said.

A councilman in a rural UK village resigned from his post and is the subject of renewed police scrutiny after allegedly trying to blow up a neighbor’s cat twice in 2023.

Councillor James Garnor was reportedly trying to stop the cat from climbing into a bird feeder, and decided the best way to do it was to rig the feeder with explosives and lure the curious feline in, according to a report on UK broadcaster LBC’s website.

Garnor was apparently so amused by his handiwork that he distributed video of the incidents to his friends. The footage shows a cat named Suki leaping onto the bird feeder on April 9, 2023, and nibbling on some of the bird feed before the explosive detonated. An injured Suki took off immediately and ran home.

She “came home one day missing her whiskers on her face – they looked like they’d been dissolved – so I put a post in my local community page on Facebook… just to warn people in case there was something she’d rolled in that had dissolved them,” said Suki’s human, a woman named Nikki.

Suki’s whiskers were singed off by the heat from the explosion. Image credit: Provided by owner to LBC News

“But somebody contacted me to tell me it wasn’t what I thought it was, that somebody had actually blown my cat up – and that it was my neighbour and local councillor. It made me feel physically sick.”

After she received the video, Nikki filed a complaint with local police, who elected not to arrest Garnor. However, after a second video surfaced with a clearer view of Garnor’s alleged actions, police responded to the public outcry and said they were reviewing the case again.

Per LBC, which broke the story:

“The incident is one of at least two occasions that cats in Whittlebury, Northamptonshire, were allegedly targeted by Councillor James Garnor in 2023 using remote-detonated explosives.”

It’s not clear if the new video shows a second attempt, or a different angle on the first. Garnor “was dealt with using anti-social behavior legislation,” a type of civil admonishment usually associated with things like noise complaints, littering and damaging public property, not trying to kill an animal.

Still images from a video showing Garnor allegedly setting off an explosion targeting Suki the cat. Credit: Photos provided by owner to LBC

Garnor resigned from his post on Feb. 7, and the council distanced itself from him, saying its members “understand the concerns raised by the community and want to assure everyone that we take all matters of animal welfare seriously.”

That hasn’t mollified people living in the small community, who are wondering why police didn’t press charges the first time they were presented with evidence of the attempt on Suki’s life. 

“You can clearly see the videos have been slowed down [and] edited. It’s very set-up: the animal has been enticed on the bird table with food whilst said individual was sitting there with the detonator waiting for [the cat] to appear,” a neighbor told LBC. “He is a member of our parish council, so it makes you worry what decisions are being made there by the individual… he has offered no apology [and] shown no remorse.”

In the meantime, Suki has been permanently impacted by the incidents. The tabby was affectionate and friendly, Nikki said, wrapping her little body “like a scarf around your neck.”

“Now she very rarely comes near you, and if she does, she’s got her claws out – she hisses, she growls,” Nikki added. “She’s not the loving cat she used to be – and I don’t blame her… the change in her happened pretty much overnight.”