LONGMONT, Colo. — When Denver7 first shared Holly Mathews’ story final September, she was nonetheless reeling from discovering considered one of her cats, Basil, shot and stuffed in a bag.
The cat’s GPS collar led them straight to the scene.
“She’s traveling in what looks like a car, looking at the speed she’s moving down the road,” Matthews described seeing the information from her cat’s GPS collar touring straight down a highway in Longmont.
The homeowners hopped in a automobile that night time and adopted the reside GPS feed down the highway till it stopped within the Saint Vrain Creek.
“He pulled her out of a trash bag. Her body, at that point, was still warm,” Matthews stated of the second her boyfriend discovered Basil’s physique after they began looking out the creek mattress.
After six months of investigating, the Longmont Police Department closed the case with no arrests. It’s an unsatisfying ending for the cat’s proprietor who believes the case factors to a potential suspect.
“The evidence is pretty compelling,” stated Matthews.
The GPS knowledge exhibits that proper earlier than the cat gave the impression to be pushed to the creek, it was at one particular property for 4 hours straight.
The Longmont Police report exhibits moments after GPS confirmed the cat was dumped within the creek, visitors cameras caught a truck driving by way of an intersection a couple of blocks away.
The police report notes the truck is similar to the one belonging to the proprietor of the property that GPS confirmed Basil was at that afternoon. Because police haven’t filed any felony prices, Denver7 won’t be figuring out that person or their tackle.
Body digicam video exhibits the moments a Longmont police officer (a unique officer than the lead investigator within the case) questions the proprietor of that property. The person is heard telling the officer that they do personal the property, however they don’t reside there.
The officer asks in regards to the truck caught on digicam on the intersection close to the crime scene.
“Right around the time, is that your truck? It looks like it huh?” “I think, yea,” stated the person.
“Right around the time that the people who own the cat, because they track their cat, down to the river, your car, your truck was seen going through the intersection,” stated the officer.
The person responds saying they drive that truck round for work on a regular basis.
“Is it only you who drives the truck or does anybody else drive it?,” the officer finally asks.
“I’m the only one who drives that truck,” the person stated.
“OK, no kids or anybody like that, grandkids or anybody?” stated the officer.
“Nope,” the person replied.
Basil’s proprietor applauds Longmont police for building the case they did, however seems like extra might have been finished to probably cost somebody with a criminal offense.
“There is a tremendous amount of circumstantial evidence,” stated Matthews.
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The Longmont Police Department despatched all of the proof they collected to the twentieth Judicial District Attorney’s Office for evaluation.
“Animal cruelty cases tend to be very difficult from the start, because, obviously, even if the animal survives, the animal cannot explain to you what has happened or give you an account. So you’re already dealing with a circumstantial case,” defined District Attorney Michael Dougherty.
Basil’s case, like different animal abuse instances with out witnesses, could be very difficult to finish in an arrest. Investigators stated the kind of proof collected is what can push a case throughout the road.
“Officer Carter (the investigating officer in this case) put in a ton of work on this. Just getting the search warrant for phone records and some of the data around that takes time. There’s a lot of data that has to be compiled and worked through,” stated Longmont Police Chief Michael Carter. “We can’t just go on our gut, we can’t. We have to have probable cause. We have to have enough information to potentially take this to trial and we’re not there.”
The chief identified that the investigation included cellular phone knowledge that didn’t place the property proprietor on the creek that night time. The division provides there may be by no means a state of affairs the place killing a cat is a suitable response to a stray cat being in your property.
The DA agreed that there’s simply not sufficient proof.
“The family of the animal that was killed probably thinks to themselves, ‘We know who did it’ and they might be right. But we have to be able to prove it. We have to have evidence that that person was the one and only person with access to the animal and the animal was killed. So, it’s an absolute tragedy and if we learn of new evidence, we would definitely bring charges,” stated Doughtery.
The DA stated they’ve and completely would prosecute anybody who’s suspected of animal abuse if there was sufficient proof to name for that.
“Our laws reflect who we are as a people and who we want to be as a society. Part of that, in this situation, is that we want our animals to be protected, that we love them, that we recognize that they don’t have a voice and sometimes they actually are more vulnerable than people might be, and that we should do everything we can under the law to hold those who violate them responsible,” he stated.
Matthew acknowledges there could also be some individuals who might not assist so many sources devoted to the investigation of 1 useless cat, however she is hoping, someday, for the arrest of the person who killed Basil.
“I think drawing a hard line in the sand and saying, ‘We as a society are not okay with this. We are not okay with someone being inconvenienced by us and taking something from us that is ultimately ending in death, no matter what kind of life it is, is okay,’” stated Matthews. “It actually peels again humanity. It exposes a stage of cruelty that I believe none of us needs to be okay with.”
The GPS knowledge exhibits the taking pictures seemingly occurred simply after 9 p.m. on August 27, 2023. The tracker left the neighborhood and was touring southbound on Martin St. earlier than touring down East County Line Rd., making a fast cease on the St. Vrain Greenway parking space, then a ultimate cease on the bridge over St. Vrain Creek, simply south of E. County Ln. and Zlaten Dr.
If you’ve got any details about this case, attain out to the Longmont Police Department at 303-651-8555 and reference report quantity #23-7880.
