Cat found dead in neighbor’s yard being investigated as suspicious

Questions are arising and rumors are circulating about the possible return of a Thurston County “cat killer” after a cat was found killed and mutilated in a neighborhood near Olympia High School.

The cat was found in a yard in the area of Eskridge Blvd SE & Quince St SE, according to posts made on the NextDoor neighborhood connection website by both the cat’s owner and the neighbor who found it in their yard.

The posts indicated that the cat was left mutilated in a way that led them to believe it was not killed by another animal, but by a human. The owner contacted the Olympia Police Department to file a report. We have requested a copy of that report from OPD and will follow up when we receive it.

In 2018, over a dozen cats were found dead and there was a $53,000 reward offered for information that led to the arrest of the killer. An additional cat was found dead in Lacey in 2019, but it was never confirmed whether that was related to the killing spree in 2018. Investigators later determined, after necropsies were completed, that some of the cats had been killed by other animals.