Cats mutilated
La Quinta, CA (US)Incident Date: Thursday, May 29, 2008
County: Riverside
Disposition: Open
Suspect(s) Unknown - We need your help!
Case Updates: 1 update(s) available
Riverside County sheriff's officials are investigating the suspicious deaths of three more cats in the La Quinta area, bringing the total to six felines mysteriously found gutted, mutilated or shot in recent weeks.
Investigators believe the first three cat slayings, which took place within a one-mile radius in the northern part of La Quinta, are linked. In those cases, experts say the cats had not been attacked by an animal.
It's less clear, however, if animals could have killed the cats found more recently.
The first cat's body was found with gunshot wounds on May 29 in the gated community of Starlight Dunes. The next day, a second cat was found gutted on Desert Stream Drive near La Quinta Park. The third incident occurred June 18, when a resident told police his cat was found with its stomach slit open in front of his home in the 44000 block of Foxtail Circle.
The owners discarded the animals before the Sheriff's Department could examine the carcasses.
"We didn't have any physical evidence on the cats." Lt. Raymond Gregory, of the Riverside County Sheriff's Department said. "And a few weeks went by, and it looked like isolated incidents until the third killing."
Gregory said the initial news reports about the slayings generated more calls from cat owners about additional incidents, raising concerns by law enforcement officials that a cat killer -- whether human or not -- is on the loose.
The fourth suspicious cat death was reported Saturday, he said. The cat's body was found torn apart in Bermuda Dunes, an unincorporated area north of La Quinta.
"Animals may have had access to the body in that case," Gregory said.
A fifth cat's body was found severed Sunday at the Renaissance Housing Development, at Avenue 50 and Jefferson Street in La Quinta. Its location, in the urban heart of the small town, and the way the body was placed suggest that a human may have caused the death, Gregory said.
The sixth cat death was reported Monday when a mutilated cat was found near a housing development in La Quinta at Washington Street and Miles Avenue.
"That one is the most suspicious," Gregory said. "There were numerous cuts to the body and the skin was partially removed. And its location is more urban."
Unlike the first three cat deaths, in which the animals' carcasses were discarded by the owners, authorities have the bodies of the three most recently killed. As in human homicide investigations, officials photographed the scene of each death.
"We are talking with veterinarians and experts on animal cruelty-type cases, and hoping to arrange having them view some of the bodies," Gregory said.
Gregory said the Indio station usually gets six or fewer animal cruelty calls a month on various types of animals, making the slew of cat slayings both "unusual and weird."
"These are happening in many residential areas, so we are certainly urging the public to contact us if they see anything suspicious," said Gregory, who also serves as assistant chief of the La Quinta Police Department, which is also investigating the cases. "The public should also keep an eye on their cats."
Gregory said anyone witnessed violence against an animal in progress should call 911. Anyone with information about the incidents is asked to call the sheriff's station in Indio at (760) 863-8990. If you have information on this case, please contact:
Indio Sheriff's Dept
(760) 863-8990
Case UpdatesLa Quinta police, hoping to determine whether a person or animal is behind several recent cat killings, have tapped the only specialized animal cruelty investigator in San Bernardino and Riverside counties.
Jamie Simmons, who has peace officer powers for animal cruelty crimes, is working with local authorities and called the La Quinta cat situation "unusual" and "concerning."
Even if an animal caused the six attacks in La Quinta and Bermuda Dunes since May 29, it's strange that the dead cats were left behind, Simmons said.
"A coyote or a mountain lion will run off with their prey and eat it," she said.
Investigators collected the last three bodies for examination, according to La Quinta Assistant Police Chief Raymond Gregory. They determined "with good certainty" the Bermuda Dunes cat was killed by an animal, he said.
Authorities sent the other two bodies to an animal control campus in Thousand Palms for further examination, he said.
"I found it unusual that the intestines were still there" since a predator will usually eat that body part, Simmons said. But that doesn't rule out an attack by a domestic dog not looking to eat the cat, she added.
This is the first time Simmons has assisted a case in the Coachella Valley.
She could not comment further on her involvement in the La Quinta case, but offered general insights on how officials approach animal cruelty investigations.
If the animal's body is preserved well enough, a licensed veterinarian performs a necropsy - similar to an autopsy - to determine the cause of death, she said.
Due to the summer heat, the La Quinta cats' bodies were too decomposed to perform a necropsy, Gregory said. However, the veterinarians "did make findings ... which they passed on to investigators," he said.
Broken bones, erratic or "chaotic" cuts and other signs of a struggle usually indicate an attack by another animal, Simmons said.
A person is less likely to engage in that type of struggle with an animal, especially out in the open, she added.
During a necropsy, a veterinarian can determine if an animal was cut with a manmade instrument, she said. They usually can tell if claws, talons and teeth caused a wound by the angle it penetrates the body.
Veterinarians further examine organs, gum-color and other body parts for signs of what killed the animal, she said.
Simmons is the lone sworn cruelty investigation officer for the Humane Society of San Bernardino Valley. Her job requires 40 hours of standard law enforcement training a year.
While the Riverside Humane Society has an animal cruelty hotline, it does not have someone in Simmons' position.
Her job entails handling evidence, looking for "tell-tale" signs of animal cruelty and assisting veterinarians with her opinion. If they determine a person killed the animal, she then launches an investigation.
In a recent case, Simmons confiscated an emaciated dog from its Riverside owner. She fed the dog for up to 30 days and ran tests at a veterinarian's office to prove it could gain weight- and that the owner had starved it.
Simmons said the owner pleaded guilty and was sentenced to three years probation and was prohibited from owning an animal. The owner also had to undergo special counseling.
In La Quinta, authorities "have a couple of theories they have to explore" about the cat deaths, Gregory said. "They start to go off which theories make sense."
Police, however, are not ready to discuss those theories, he said.
"This seems unusual, to find so many dead cats" in "an area where it doesn't usually happen," Simmons said. "And then you see a rise in such close proximity that raises concerns." | Source: The Desert Sun - July 10, 2008
Update posted on Jul 11, 2008 - 1:31AM |
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