Cat hanged, burned in fire pit
Austin, MN (US)Incident Date: Wednesday, Jan 14, 2009
County: Mower
Charges: Felony CTA
Disposition: Alleged
Alleged: Paul Christopher Hjelman
Case Updates: 1 update(s) available
Police are looking to interview an Austin man who allegedly hung a cat by a string and burned the animal in a backyard fire pit.
An Austin police community service officer took a report about 9:30 a.m. Wednesday from someone about a 34-year-old man who killed one of two house cats Monday while drunk at a home, Police Chief Paul Philipp said.
The officer spoke with three people at 1107 Fourth Ave. N.W., who weren't home at the time of the incident but said the man told them he killed the cat, Philipp said. They then evicted the man from the home.
They had put the cat's remains in a garbage bag and placed it in the garage after finding it in the fire pit, Philipp said.
The chief didn't know why the man, who could face criminal charges of animal cruelty, killed the cat.
Case UpdatesA Blooming Prairie man faces a felony animal cruelty charge for allegedly killing and burning a cat in Austin last month.
Paul Christopher Hjelman, 34, is charged in Mower District Court with one count of overworking or mistreating animals. It relates to torture or cruelty of a pet animal involving death or great bodily harm.
A criminal complaint filed Tuesday summons Hjelman to appear March 12 in court.
According to the complaint, an Austin community service officer took a report Jan. 14 from a person who believed a cat was killed and burned in a fire pit at a house in the 1100 block of Fourth Avenue Northwest. Three people at the house told the officer they believed their roommate, Hjelman, killed one of the house cats Jan. 12, leading them to evict him. Two of them had pulled the cat's remains out of the backyard fire pit.
None of them saw Hjelman burn the cat but indicated Hjelman admitted doing it, the complaint says. Another woman reported Hjelman called her several times the day of the cat's death and admitted killing the animal.
Austin police and firefighters had gone to the house about 7 a.m. Jan. 12 for a report of a large backyard fire, according to the complaint.
The man who owned the cat said Hjelman told him that he found the cat dead under a table and that the cat had apparently strangled itself by a ribbon around its neck. The man told police there weren't ribbons in the home and that Hjelman gave different stories of what happened.
On Jan. 21, Hjelman told police he didn't remember much from the night of the cat's death because he was drunk, the complaint says. Hjelman reportedly told police that after he found the cat, he took it to the fire pit. | Source: Post-Bulletin - Feb 6, 2009
Update posted on Feb 6, 2009 - 12:09PM |
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