A Missouri man has been arrested and charged for torturing, killing, and dismembering several cats and kittens that he bought or received for free after seeing online ads for them.

According to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, 20-year-old Kaine Louzader, of Wild Deer Lane near St. Peters, St. Charles County, was arrested this past Friday, May 10, for the crimes. He was living at his grandparents' home at the time of the arrest.

Documents pertaining to the case filed by St. Charles County Prosecuting Attorney Tim Lohmar state that Louzader killed at least 12 cats and kittens after getting them from people who were offering them for sale or free on Craigslist.

Suspicion began to arise against Louzader this past January, which is when the dead cats began turning up on or near the street where he lived. Then, last Monday, May 6, witnesses spotted a man dumping a dead cat from a bag of water near Louzader's house.

When authorities investigated, they found that Louzader's car matched the description of the car the culprit was seen driving. In an affidavit filed in court, St. Charles County police Sgt. Jeff Ochs wrote that when he questioned the 20-year-old, he initially claimed the scratches on his fingers, hands, and arms were inflicted by an elderly woman at the hospital where he worked. But Ochs said Louzader later admitted the scratches were from a cat he killed on Sunday.

Ochs also confirmed that Louzader confessed to combing through Craigslist in search of cats and kittens and to then taking them home, where he killed them. The 20-year-old reportedly said he killed them by either stomping on their heads or strangling them in a bathtub or on the patio, dismembering some by cutting off their heads or limbs, and then dumping them on the streets.

Fox2Now reported that, so far, the remains of one adult cat and three mutilated kittens have been found, and that neighbors have been left appalled by the crimes. "If someone's capable of doing that to an animal, who knows what they could do? I can't imagine what kind of a sick person would do that to an animal," one was quoted saying.

Another said his children had found one of the dead cats and assumed it had been attacked and killed by some other animal. "I had one in the side of my yard and another in my fenced-in yard," he said. "It's shocking. It's disturbing."

Louzader has been charged with two counts of felony animal abuse by torture or mutilation in the case, according to county records. The charges are felonies and not misdemeanors because he is being accused of torturing and mutilating the cats when they were still alive.

A spokesperson for the St. Charles County Prosecutor's Office said further charges will be filed against Louzader. He is currently being held at the county jail on a $50,000 bond.

If found guilty, Louzader faces up to four years in prison. His lawyer has declined to comment on his case.