Police Find Severed Head Of Family Cat Taped To Stake In Yard

CLEARWATER, FL — A 22-year-old Clearwater man has been arrested on felony animal cruelty charges after the family cat's severed head was found taped to a stake in the back yard.

Police responded to a home at 1229 Sedeeva Circle N. Thursday morning after Joshua Daniel Pena-Cedillo's stepfather said he found the head of the family feline affixed to a stick.

Pena-Cedillo told officers two versions of how the cat died. First, he said he strangled it and then he said he placed it alive in a plastic bag and suffocated it.

Afterward, he said he cut off the cat's head with an ax and then tried to impale it on a stick. When that effort failed, he taped the cat's head to the stick.

He also cut off the head of a stuffed animal he had had for years and taped it on to another stick.

He said he did this to show a family member what he was capable of doing.