Cat mutilations take South Sound off deep end

Two unrelated crime sprees in South Sound look like the actions of very disturbed serial criminals. Police need the public’s help in both.

In one case, a very sick character is dismembering cats.

This person is suspected of killing and gutting seven felines since October. Six of the cat deaths were in the Olympia, Tumwater or Lacey areas; one was in Port Angeles.

Each time the animals were sliced open and their spines removed. Whoever is doing this needs psychiatric help.

If more than one person is doing this, that’s more disturbing. The spree raises questions about just how far a determined, repetitive killer might go.

In the other case, a suspect has been lighting fires at worship halls used by local Jehovah’s Witnesses since March. The fires occurred in Olympia and Tumwater; a separate vandalism in Yelm involved shots fired at a Kingdom Hall.

Thurston County residents of any faith need a refuge where they can practice their religious rites without interference.

Though no one has died in the fires, the next arson could be the one that causes serious injury or takes a human life.

Cash rewards have been offered for information that leads to an arrest and conviction in both series of crimes.

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco Firearms and Explosives led a news conference on July 18 at the site of the Kingdom Hall along Cain Road in southeast Olympia. The federal agency announced that rewards in the case were being increased to $36,000 by the ATF, Thurston County Sheriff’s Office and the Arson Alarm Foundation.

It was actually a relief to learn that a fire last Thursday at a Kingdom Hall in Lacey was an accidental ceiling-fan fire.

Pasado’s Safe Haven, a nonprofit that works to stop animal cruelty, offered a $1,500 reward for information leading to an arrest and conviction in the animal attacks. A Q13 FOX television news anchor in Seattle has offered to match it.

The last cat killing was Sunday, claiming a 20-year-old male who was left on a neighbor’s lawn in west Olympia. Harley, as this elderly cat was known to its adoptive owners, was the second cat to die in this way in 48 hours in Olympia.

Though most South Sounders volunteer information about crimes without the prospect of rewards, we know a reward can tip the scales.

A timely tip to authorities may be the only thing that stops a very sick person from lighting the next fire, perhaps one that maims or kills a parishioner.

A timely tip might be all that stops the other disturbed individual or individuals from escalating gruesome attacks on cats — perhaps targeting a vulnerable person.

Whatever our reasons, we all need to report any suspicious behavior involving fires to our local police station.

Information about the cat slaughters should be sent to investigators at Thurston County Animal Services at 360-352-5210.

Our community needs to put a stop to these events.

This story was originally published August 7, 2018 at 11:48 AM.