Posted on 02/17/2012 4:43:04 PM PST by GSWarrior
FRESNO, Calif. — It was the sound of a wailing cat that first caught the neighbor’s attention. When she looked toward the sound she told authorities that she saw her next-door neighbor cutting off the crying feline’s head with a knife.
The call she subsequently made to deputies started a bizarre animal cruelty investigation that has focused attention from around the country on a working-class neighborhood in a Bakersfield suburb where a man allegedly was fileting cats and cooking them on his backyard barbecue.
“I’ve been getting calls on this from around the country,” Kern County Sheriff’s spokesman Ray Pruitt said. “For some reason when somebody hurts animals people are more outraged than they are for a lot of other cases.”
Investigators decided to release new details on Thursday because of the nationwide interest in the case.
Jason Wilmert, 35, will be arraigned today on charges alleging animal cruelty and using a pet or domesticated animal for food. Both are misdemeanors.
A neighbor told KBAK-TV that she had seen Wilmert with a wailing tabby cat cutting it down the back with a knife, then decapitating it. She turned away in disgust and called sheriff’s deputies.
Pruitt said that when deputies arrived that morning at Wilmert’s home they talked to other neighbors, who said they had heard the sounds of screaming cats coming from the house in Oildale. When he didn’t answer his door, Pruitt said a deputy walked down the driveway and saw a cat’s head in the backyard.
Later Pruitt came outside and deputies arrested him. When they searched his house they found a cat carcass in the kitchen sink, as if were being prepped for cooking. Deputies also found an animal trap in the driveway.
“We don’t know if he was using the trap to catch cats, but he had one,” Pruitt said.
Nobody has called in reporting missing pets, and investigators suspect the victims were strays.
Wilmert has been unable to post $22,500 bail on the animal cruelty charges and unrelated littering offenses. It was unclear if he had an attorney.
“That wasn’t chicken in your chicken chow mein.”
Joking aside, this due is not right in the head if the accusations are true.
“due” = “dude”
One step away from serial killer.
At the very least they should be killed humanely first. Sounds like he was butchering them alive.
that’s supposed to be sweet and sour pork, but
that’s garfield on my fork
there’s a hair ball on my fork
unrelated littering offenses.
Yep, he was cat littering.
Even shooting the cat would be preferable. This is a cruel nut case.
If he’d eaten my cat, it would be the last meal that weirdo would have on this earth.
BTW, it sounds like the guy was getting off on inflicting pain, judging from the way he was killing them. Not even a varmint deserves to be slit open alive like that. Wouldn’t be surprised if this guy has been doing some very twisted things for a very long time.
I'm not sure about that. Serial Killers indulge in animal cruelty generally for cruelty's sake; as twisted as it sounds this guy sounded like he was hungry. While it's true that Serial Killer types will eat victims or their parts, that's usually some totemic expression of power over the victim or some kind of trophy savoring a la Dahmer.
The way this is written at least, this guy sees cats as just another breed of small game.
I'm not particularly defending him, mind you, and while I'd agree he's certainly, "not right," I'm not sure he'd be inclined to eat or kill a person.
Right after Paris was liberated in 1944 the French were out of beef and pork with which to serve the conquering GI’s. It was reported that the stray cat population of Paris markedly declined and that the GI’s dined remarkedly well!
Drugs, for sure. I wouldn’t be surprised if there were lots of BDSM on his computer’s hard drive.
I don’t eat cats but I do not see any difference from a moral point of view between eating cats and eating other animals.
However, as others have pointed out, it seems that the guy wasn't killing the cats humanely. Perhaps, he was getting off on the pain and suffering.
Also, it doesn't appear that he had any way of knowing whether his victims were feral cats, or someone’s beloved pet. According to my extensive research into serial killers (i.e. watching TV cop shows); serial killers are sociopaths, with no ability to empathize with their victims. Normal people understand that pet owners can have a strong emotional bond with their pets. Anyone capable of empathy can empathize with that emotional attachment, and wouldn't hurt a pet because they wouldn't want to hurt the owner emotionally.
Do any of us know if we’ve ever eaten cat im our lifetime. Ponder that for a few seconds...
It is very hard to slice a live cat down the spine. They tend to wiggle.
If he was killing them with a quick blow to the head or by driving the knife into the brain then perhaps you are right.
Still kind of strange and rather risky. Cats, especially stray cats, carry all sorts of diseases that can be rather nasty.
I suspect one of my neighbors has eaten dogs. I am serious. When she goes walking around the neighborhood, the dogs (and everyone around here has a dog) go freaking nutso. Even my dog, who loves everybody, completely flips her wig whenever this lady comes around. Her hair stands up all down her back and she just freaks out. I was talking to some of the other dog owners and they have noticed the same thing. One of them told me her dog starts to shake when he sees this woman. It’s the weirdest thing. I think they all know something.
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