Cat Mutilations In Parker May Be Linked To Aurora's
Third Cat Found Decapitated, With Front Legs Removed
POSTED: 8:52 a.m. MST December 10, 2002
UPDATED: 2:11 p.m. MST December 10, 2002
PARKER, Colo. -- For the third time in a month, a cat has been found mutilated and dumped in a yard, and police asked for the public's help to find the killer.
A couple living in the Clark Farms subdivision was doing yard work when they found the body of the black, white and gray female cat lying under a pile of leaves in a flower bed Friday morning. The cat had been decapitated and its front legs had been removed, Parker police said.
Authorities said the cat had been dead for at least a week.
Investigators were trying to determine whether the three
killings were connected to a rash of cat, rabbit and squirrel
mutilations in Denver and Aurora that began in July.
"It's the same kind of activity, but we don't have information
that positively connects them," said Parker police Capt. Ron
Combs.
There had been 10 cats, a squirrel and a rabbit that have been killed and left out for viewing in Aurora and Denver since July 19, authorities said. Whoever was mutilating pets in that area were killing them with an almost surgical precision, police said.
All were dissected in a surgically precise way, and some animals had their organs removed and their bloodless carcasses left near people's homes, police said.
And now, the trend may be happening in Parker.
A couple raking leaves in their back yard discovered the first
dead cat in Parker on Nov. 9. Eleven days later, a teacher at the
Primrose School found the front half of a large black cat lying in
a ditch near a fence. In each case, the cats were dismembered with
a sharp object or tool, and the rest of the body was missing.
Unlike the cases in Denver and Aurora, the cats apparently did
not belong to anyone in the neighborhoods where they were found, Parker police said.
The Denver Dumb Friends League has offered an $11,500 reward for
information leading to the arrest of a suspect.
The police are asking people who find bodies of animals to report that immediately, since there may be more victims that authorities don't even know about.
An Aurora woman whose cat was among those that were killed, said that what the suspect did to her beloved pet, Mozart (pictured above), was so gruesome that police only showed her a picture.
"They didn't really want me to see his body, so what they did was show me a picture of his head, and it was Mozart," Carol De Young said.
A couple living in the Clark Farms subdivision was doing yard work when they found the body of the black, white and gray female cat lying under a pile of leaves in a flower bed Friday morning. The cat had been decapitated and its front legs had been removed, Parker police said.
Authorities said the cat had been dead for at least a week.
Investigators were trying to determine whether the three
killings were connected to a rash of cat, rabbit and squirrel
mutilations in Denver and Aurora that began in July.
"It's the same kind of activity, but we don't have information
that positively connects them," said Parker police Capt. Ron
Combs.
There had been 10 cats, a squirrel and a rabbit that have been killed and left out for viewing in Aurora and Denver since July 19, authorities said. Whoever was mutilating pets in that area were killing them with an almost surgical precision, police said.
All were dissected in a surgically precise way, and some animals had their organs removed and their bloodless carcasses left near people's homes, police said.
And now, the trend may be happening in Parker.
A couple raking leaves in their back yard discovered the first
dead cat in Parker on Nov. 9. Eleven days later, a teacher at the
Primrose School found the front half of a large black cat lying in
a ditch near a fence. In each case, the cats were dismembered with
a sharp object or tool, and the rest of the body was missing.
Unlike the cases in Denver and Aurora, the cats apparently did
not belong to anyone in the neighborhoods where they were found, Parker police said.
The Denver Dumb Friends League has offered an $11,500 reward for
information leading to the arrest of a suspect.
The police are asking people who find bodies of animals to report that immediately, since there may be more victims that authorities don't even know about.
An Aurora woman whose cat was among those that were killed, said that what the suspect did to her beloved pet, Mozart (pictured above), was so gruesome that police only showed her a picture.
"They didn't really want me to see his body, so what they did was show me a picture of his head, and it was Mozart," Carol De Young said.
Previous Stories:
- November 12, 2002: Experts: Surgical Precision Of Cat Mutilations Worrisome
- November 8, 2002: Dozen Pets Found Mutilated In Aurora
Copyright 2002 by TheDenverChannel.com. The Associated Press contributed to this report. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
