A Jacksonville woman’s surveillance camera captured the final minutes of her cat’s life and resulted in a neighbor’s arrest on an animal cruelty charge, police said.
The woman called police at 12:17 p.m. Sunday and said she found the lifeless cat near her neighbor’s garage. She looked at video from her exterior camera and said it captured footage about five hours earlier that made her believe the cat’s death was intentional.
“It showed a man in the area and then you could hear loud banging,” Jacksonville Police Lt. Mark Lonergan said.
The cat reappeared in the video, “fell down and died,” Lonergan said.
Officers who were investigating the call found a black metal pipe with blood and cat fur on it, according to Lonergan.
Dustin J. Jones, 42, was arrested on a felony charge of aggravated animal cruelty, according to police. He was booked into Morgan County Detention Facility and later released, according to jail records.
Court information about his case was unavailable.