Three former students of an Alexandria boarding school have been charged with killing the cat of the dean of students and his wife.
The cat, called Bella, was put in a pillowcase, beaten with a baseball bat and then buried in a wooded area of the campus.
Headmaster F. Robertson Hershey said, "It's a reprehensible act, which is clearly way beyond the standards that we will tolerate. Initially, it was thought to be a prank, and it spontaneously ended up to be something much more horrific."
William Graham, 19, of North Myrtle Beach, SC, has been charged in warrants with cruelty to animals and petty larceny. Each charge has a maximum penalty of a year in jail.
The two other youths, 17, were not identified because they are juveniles. One juvenile was from Miami Beach, FL, and was charged with cruelty to animals and petty larceny. The third juvenile from Front Royal was charged with petty larceny.
The police detective Dana Lawhorne said the Florida juvenile was the "main aggressor" in the group and told his mother what had happened.
"He and his mother came here from out of state to confess to the headmaster. He and his mom did the right thing. They wanted to get it off their chests."
Detective Lawhorne said "It was an end-of-the school year prank that got out of hand. The original idea was to take the cat and then release it."
The dean and his wife let their 7-year old Burmese out of their house on June 1 and the cat never came back home. They put up fliers about their missing cat and notified the animal shelter.
In August school officials told police that some of their students might have been involved in the cat's disappearance. References« Back to Search Results Note: Classifications and other fields should not be used to determine what specific charges the suspect is facing or was convicted of - they are for research and statistical purposes only. The case report and subsequent updates outline the specific charges. Charges referenced in the original case report may be modified throughout the course of the investigation or trial, so case updates, when available, should always be considered the most accurate reflection of charges. For more information regarding classifications and usage of this database, please visit the database notes and disclaimer.
|
