Cat killer in Goshen

GOSHEN, Ind. – The cat killer struck again, another young, healthy cat was found dead off Berkey Avenue. “I wanted to cry, it sickens me,” Lu Ann Yoder said two of her cats were murdered and this serial cat killer has not slowed down.

On Thursday, Yoder’s next door neighbor Megan Eichorn discovered the body of a black cat in the bushes along her property. “We found the cat over between the hedges over there,” Eichorn said the cat did not get hit by a car; the cat’s body was not close to the street and it showed no signs of bodily trauma.

“It felt kind of suspicious, like it could have been shot,” Eichorn said this is not the first time something like this has happened, “So that’s why we called the police.”

Three cats were shot and killed in the neighborhood in the last several months, two of those cats belonged to Yoder, “I have two cats buried with pellets inside them.”

First it was Zoe, Yoder said her cat came into the house crying, the white cat did not look injured but Yoder later found Zoe curled up, dead on the floor.  Yoder said the wound was very small, she did not know what happened to her cat until she had an autopsy done, “He said she’s been shot and he was pretty sure it was a pellet gun.”

Then Yoder’s neighbor’s cat turned up dead, same thing, shot with a pellet gun and then again, this time Yoder’s cat Madeline was the target.“She’s the most recent, such a good cat.” Yoder said the loss of two pets, two family members was incredibly painful, “It’s a part of your heart and it was awful.”

Now, a fourth cat has been found dead, Eichorn said, “Somebody must not like cats around here and they just like to shoot them.” Eichorn said the cat she found in her yard did not look like a stray, it was well cared for but she could not find the owner.

Police officers offered to dispose of the body, but a cat owner and animal lover, Eichorn buried the black cat in her backyard. “We wanted to give it a descent burial at least.”

Eichorn called police to file an animal cruelty report and the Goshen Police Department is investigating, but there is just not a lot of evidence.

Yoder and Eichorn do not believe kids are responsible for the deaths of the four cats, both think the cat killer is an adult who doesn't’t like cats, hunting people's pets in the neighborhood. Eichorn said, “They just do it either for fun or do it out of spite.”

The neighborhood has put their cats on lock down, pets will be kept inside until the serial cat killer is caught. Yoder said, "I just hope the punishment is severe enough that no one tries this again."