



OLYMPIA, Wash. -- Harley was a big, fluffy tabby cat who lived in a little-heated house that Kathy Harrigan built for him.



“He was about 20 years old. He was deaf,” said Harrigan. She had been taking care of him for the last two years. “He had found a place under a tree in our yard so we took him in. Built him a house and kept him warm over the next couple of winters. There’s no way he would ever have been an indoor cat or we would have brought him inside.”





“It’s really kind of terrifying, does it stop with cats?"

On Saturday night, Harrigan brushed Harley and fed him at about midnight.



“I went to bed and then in the morning, he’s usually right there at the door waiting for me and he wasn’t there. Shortly afterward, the police came by and asked if we were missing our cat and it turns out that he was dead on our neighbor’s lawn and had been mutilated,” said Harrigan.



She says Harley was somewhat feral and there is no way he would have let anyone pick him up.



"He wouldn’t have allowed anyone to do that so I don’t know how they got ahold of him,” Harrigan said.



Thurston County Animal Services says Harley is the 7th cat found mutilated and killed so far, two within 48 hours.





Olly who was found strangled and mutilated Friday morning.





Harley was found by a neighbor in the 1700 block of 6th Avenue Southwest in West Olympia. That’s not far from where Olly was found dead on Friday in the 1500 block of Dickinson Ave NW.



Officer Erika Johnson with Thurston County Animal Services says the cats were cut open from stern to genitals with a scalpel and their spines were removed. "I feel for the animal owners because I’m an animal owner myself and just the manner these animals have died is extremely horrific."



At least one cat fought back. There is evidence Olly who was found strangled and mutilated Friday morning fought back. Officer Johnson is sending samples from her claws to the crime lab in hopes of getting a DNA match.



There were two other similar cases discovered in February in the 1400 block of Clearbrook Drive SE in Lacey, one last month near Tumwater Airport, as well as one in the 1000 block of Decatur ST SW in Olympia near Decatur Woods park.



A case from last October is also believed to be connected.










Officers went door-to-door this weekend in Olympia to look for surveillance video and to warn people about the killings.



“It’s really kind of terrifying, does it stop with cats? And, then the fact that this person had laid his body out for everyone to see is really disturbing,” said Harrigan.



She is now planning on getting security cameras and says all of her neighbors are on alert.





"The manner these animals have died is extremely horrific"

"So, people are going to start keeping their cats indoors now. A lot of people had felt free to let their cats be outdoors but not anymore,” said Harrigan.



Pasado’s Safe Haven is offering a $1,500 reward and Q13 News Anchor and Washington’s Most Wanted host David Rose is matching it so the reward is $3,000 for any tip that leads to an arrest and conviction in the case.



If you'd like to donate money to Pasado's to increase the reward, you can do it here.



Call Thurston County Animal Services at 360-352-2510.



