Cat's severed head found
Galveston, TX (US)Incident Date: Thursday, Jun 29, 2006
County: Galveston
Disposition: Open
Suspect(s) Unknown - We need your help!
Judge Susan Criss had a jarring experience June 29 evening as she returned home from work.
"I saw something in the street and when I went to investigate, I realized it was the severed head of a cat," she said.
Criss, the judge of the 212th District Court, immediately notified the Galveston Police Department. Investigators took pictures of the head and then delivered it to a Houston veterinary clinic for testing.
"There was some question whether this was done by another animal or by a human being," Criss said. "The veterinarian determined it was definitely done by a human."
Lt. Joe Peña of the Galveston Police Department said investigators were treating the case as a matter of animal cruelty.
"There were no witnesses, and we have no other information right now," he said.
He said the animal appeared to have been a neighborhood cat.
"People said it looked like one they'd seen around the area," Peña said.
Criss' name will be familiar to some because she was presiding judge in the trail of Robert Durst, who was acquitted of a murder charge in the shooting death of his elderly island neighbor, Morris Black. The New York millionaire admitted cutting Black's body into six pieces, five of which were found floating in Galveston Bay. Black's head remains missing. Durst is free on parole after convictions for evidence tampering and bail jumping.
Criss said she was eager to see the results of the investigation. She said she did not know whether this was a random act of cruelty or a targeted action.
"I wonder about that," she said. "I don't know. It's a question I'd like to have answered."
She said she was glad, though, that she was the one who found the severed head.
"I'm glad it was me rather than one of the neighborhood children," she said. References« TX State Animal Cruelty Map
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