{"id":104103,"date":"2026-01-03T06:08:07","date_gmt":"2026-01-03T06:08:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/104103\/"},"modified":"2026-01-03T06:08:07","modified_gmt":"2026-01-03T06:08:07","slug":"man-allegedly-admits-to-strangling-cat-after-claiming-it-choked-on-hairball-deputies-say-6","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/104103\/","title":{"rendered":"Man allegedly admits to strangling cat after claiming it choked on hairball, deputies say"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>ST. LUCIE COUNTY, Fla. (CBS12) \u2014 A man who allegedly denied harming two cats later admitted to strangling one of them, according to the St. Lucie County Sheriff\u2019s Office.<\/p>\n<p>Deputies first responded on December 23, to a home on Bella Vista Way in Port St. Lucie after two cats were found dead in a dumpster. Deputies approached Russell John Hunter, 28, who told investigators he had nothing to do with their deaths, and no arrest was made at that time.<\/p>\n<p>Hours later, staff at a facility reported Hunter confessed during an intake assessment to killing a cat,  named Dean, after it scratched him during play. In a subsequent interview, Hunter waived his Miranda rights and explained that he \u201cjust wanted Dean to like him.\u201d He later wrote, \u201cI don\u2019t hate him, I miss him already.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>See also: <a href=\"https:\/\/cbs12.com\/news\/local\/animal-advocates-question-floridas-new-bare-bones-dog-abuse-database-the-poka-dogz-team-wftv-orlando-volusia-county-dexters-law-animal-abuse-january-2-2026\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">&#8216;Nothing?&#8217;: Advocates question Florida\u2019s new bare-bones animal abuse database<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Comment with Bubbles<\/p>\n<p>BE THE FIRST TO COMMENT<\/p>\n<p>A veterinary examination revealed signs consistent with strangulation, including bruising and hemorrhaging in the eyes, contradicting Hunter\u2019s earlier claim that the cat choked on a hairball, according to the probable cause affidavit. Hunter was arrested without incident and booked into the St. Lucie County Jail for animal cruelty and perjury for providing contradictory statements.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ST. LUCIE COUNTY, Fla. (CBS12) \u2014 A man who allegedly denied harming two cats later admitted to strangling&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":104104,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[171,173,172],"class_list":{"0":"post-104103","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-port-st-lucie","8":"tag-port-st-lucie","9":"tag-port-st-lucie-headlines","10":"tag-port-st-lucie-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104103","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=104103"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104103\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/104104"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=104103"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=104103"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=104103"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}