Mutilated dead cats and kittens wrapped in duct tape, cardboard boxes and sheets found outside New York man's apartment trash chute
LONG ISLAND, NEW YORK: A 37-year-old man was arrested on Tuesday, November 26, after a resident and a building employee discovered several dead cats and kittens outside the apartment's trash chute over a period of several different days.
Justin Visconti is facing four counts of aggravated animal cruelty after mutilated bodies of the felines were discovered outside his Long Island apartment, according to Nassau County police.
Investigators said that the animals had died due to blunt force trauma to their heads. The bodies were wrapped in duct tape, cardboard boxes and sheets and dumped in the trash chute.
"These cats were badly mutilated, these cats were tortured by some means," Jed Painter of the Nassau County District Attorney’s Animal Crimes Unit told WABC-TV. "We had multiple broken bones. In fact, one of the animals, pretty much every single bone in the body was broken."
The animals did not belong to Visconti and it was not immediately known where the perpetrator had got them from. Police officers began knocking on the doors of neighbors around the area, asking people if they were missing cats or kittens from their houses.
There were also families who first learned about Visconti's gruesome crimes through letters that were slipped under their doors by the detectives. "It was put under the door and they said it was another incident of a cat being disposed of," one neighbor said.
Another neighbor, who is a cat owner said: "This person needs help. That's terrible that something so innocent that doesn't understand what's happening to do that, that's the worst thing I can think of."
Visconti's mother said that her son was already on probation, after several prior arrests for grand larceny, stalking and aggravated harassment when he was charged with fresh charges.
She added that she was bewildered by all the reporters at his arraignment and that she knew nothing about his crimes. His bail amount has been set at $20,000.