A mutilated cat found dead early Sunday in Washington state was linked to the killings of six other cats in the area since last October and could be the work of a serial cat killer, authorities said.

The latest felinicide victim – a tabby cat named Harley – was found at about 10 a.m. on the front lawn of a home near Decatur Street Southwest and Sixth Avenue Southwest in west Olympia, a Thurston County Animal Services officer told The Olympian.

Residents found the cat and bagged it before disposing of its body. A necropsy was scheduled for Monday, Officer Erika Johnson told the newspaper.

A total of seven mutilated cats have been found in Thurston County, including three near Decatur Street Southwest and three in Lacey. Another animal, which was cut in half, was also found in Tumwater, Johnson said.

Harley’s owner says she spoiled her cat, who was deaf, with a tiny outdoor heated house, she told Q13.

“He was about 20 years old,” Kathy Harrigan told the station. “He was deaf. 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.”

Harrigan said she last fed the semi-feral cat at around midnight Saturday.

“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,” Harrigan told the station. “Shortly afterward, the police came by and asked if we were missing a cat and it turns out that he was dead on our neighbor’s lawn and had been mutilated.”

Harley, who was discovered by a neighbor, was found not far from where Olly, another cat, was found butchered Friday on Dickinson Avenue NW. All of the animals were discovered cut open with a scalpel, with their spines removed, Johnson said.

“I feel for the animal owners because I’m an animal lover myself and just the manner these animals have died is extremely horrific,” she said.

Police in Olympia visited homeowners in search of surveillance video and to warn pet owners about the string of mutilated animals over the weekend.

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

A $3,000 reward was being offered for information leading to an arrest and conviction in the ongoing investigation by Thurston County Joint Animal Services and Pasado’s Safe Haven, an anti-animal cruelty organization in Washington state.

An anchor for Q13 also offered up a $1,500 reward after Olly was found mutilated.

“She was strangled and sliced upon,” anchor David Rose tweeted Friday. “To the sick suspect, I have a particular set of skills and I will find you.”

Anyone with information about the mutilated cats is asked to call Thurston County Animal Services at (360) 352-2510.