Tustin Group Offers $1,600 Reward in Cat Deaths

About two dozen Orange County residents, alarmed by at least 67 cat killings, are offering a $1,600 reward for information leading to the conviction of anyone involved in the deaths and have formed a citizens’ action group to patrol areas where the mutilated animals have been found.

County and federal officials believe the cats have been killed by coyotes. But members of TRAK--Tustin Residents Against Animal Killers--insist that the pets were taken deliberately by humans, possibly by Satan worshipers for ritual sacrifice.

At a news conference in Orange today, TRAK leader Janet Hampson will announce that about 25 local people have collected $1,600 and put it in a fund administered by We Tip Inc., a nationwide network that receives anonymous crime tips from citizens. That money and any other contributions to the fund will go to anyone whose information leads to the arrest and conviction of people responsible for the cat killings, Hampson said.

Drained of Blood

Hampson, who has compiled reports on many of the animal deaths, claims that as many as 85 have been killed under mysterious circumstances since last winter. The toll also includes at least one dog, which was found bloodless and with its midsection gone in North Tustin three weeks ago.

Hampson believes the animals were ritualistically killed because many of them were found neatly cut in pieces and drained of blood. Instead of being found far from their homes, the pets’ remains are left prominently on nearby lawns, she said.

Hampson said TRAK is recruiting volunteers to form night patrols in the North Tustin neighborhoods where the highest concentration of mutilated animals has been found.

A North Tustin resident who owns three cats, Hampson said volunteers would cruise the area in their cars and report to local police or sheriff’s deputies any suspicious activity they see.

Orange County Sheriff’s Department Lt. Richard J. Olson said that despite Hampson’s insistence, there is no evidence that the cats were killed by humans.

“Had there been any evidence of human criminal wrongdoing, we’d have stepped in,” Olson said. “We’re concerned that (the allegation of human involvement) is creating public panic or hysteria, and we just don’t see any basis for it.”

Investigators from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s animal damage control program take the same view. Summoned last month after at least 67 cats had been found dead, they determined that the evidence was “consistent with coyote killings.”

Nila Kelly, a veterinarian with the county’s Animal Control and Animal Shelter Services division, who has performed necropsies on most of the animals, also has concluded that the deaths resulted from attacks by predators. Judy Maitlen, assistant director of county animal control, said Kelly found evidence of teeth marks in some of the carcasses.

“If citizens can get additional evidence (on the cat deaths), that would be helpful,” Maitlen said.

Request for Task Force

Hampson said she and her fellow TRAK members also plan to ask the Board of Supervisors to establish a special police task force to investigate the animal deaths. She and fellow TRAK members will present supervisors with petitions containing the signatures of more than 2,000 people, contending that law enforcement agencies have “gravely underestimated” the problem.

Hampson said all her research points to calculated killing, not natural predation. She dismissed as nonsensical the claim that coyotes killed the cats.

“When coyotes eat their prey, it’s a messy, messy business,” she said. “They tear and chew. There is blood and body fluids everywhere. They do not neatly sever animals in two pieces.

“Predators do not eat their prey in public places, right in the middle of residential neighborhoods,” she added. “They drag it off somewhere where it’s safe.”

Hampson said anyone who has information about the animal deaths or who is interested in volunteering for patrols can call TRAK at (714) 832-1100.

We Tip Inc., which can be reached at 1-800-78-CRIME, will also accept tips on the killings and forward them to law enforcement agencies. We Tip will also accept donations for the reward fund, a We Tip spokeswoman said.