Traverse City Record-Eagle

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November 4, 2010

Teen charged for killing, beheading cat

Police continue to probe cat disappearances

BY ALEX PIAZZA and ART BUKOWSKI Record-Eagle

TRAVERSE CITY — A Grawn teen severed a cat's head, stuffed it in a plastic bag tied to his belt buckle, then showed off the trophy to friends, police said.

Grand Traverse County prosecutors on Wednesday charged Jonathan David Cook, 18, with a felony count of killing or torturing animals. The charge against Cook is the first volley in a continuing probe of numerous cat killings and disappearances in the Blair Township area.

Cook told police he saw a black cat on a two-track near his home and attempted to pet it, according to police reports. The cat bit him, he said, so he stabbed it to death.

He denied cutting off the cat's head, but several people told investigators he bragged about doing just that, according to police reports. Witnesses told police Cook is suspected of killing and mutilating other animals in the Blair Township area.

Cook hadn't been arrested on the charge Wednesday. He didn't immediately return a call for comment left at his residence.

Police responded to multiple complaints of dead and mutilated animals in the area dating to February. Grand Traverse Prosecutor Alan Schneider said Cook was charged with one killing based on available evidence. He wouldn't comment further.

Grand Traverse Undersheriff Nate Alger said his department continues to investigate.

"It appears there were some similarities in the way these animals were treated," he said, referring to the cat Cook allegedly killed and other reported incidents.

An inmate at the Grand Traverse County Jail told deputies Cook "bragged about killing and torturing animals in and around his home," police reports show.

Another man told deputies Cook "decapitated a black cat and brought the head to the residence where he was staying," police reports show. He had a plastic bag tied to his belt buckle, then reached in and pulled out the severed head of a black cat.

"Cook began to laugh and brag about how he had tortured it for the last three days in the woods," police reports show.

Blair Township resident Brian Rogers found his cat, Remus, sawed in half in July, an unsettling discovery for his family.

He suggested Cook undergo a "full psychological examination."

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