Several kittens were drowned and microwaved by a 22-year-old Illinois guy.
After his girlfriend reported a foul-smelling bag in his pantry, authorities broke it open and found feline body parts. Chicago roofer Thomas Martel was charged with killing at least six young cats.
Martel, from Wicker Park, is accused of four charges of animal torture and two counts of severe cruelty to animals.
The man Thomas Martel is accused of the death of six kittens since May, he replaced each one with a visually similar kitten sourced from Craigslist, in an effort to prevent his mother from growing suspicious
via @CWBChicago pic.twitter.com/vxtGNlSmqM
— Dexerto (@Dexerto) July 12, 2023
A Pattern
CWB Chicago covered his bail session on Tuesday afternoon, which outlined the horrible charges.
Sarah Dale-Schmidt, Cook County Assistant State’s Attorney, testified. Martel killed the kittens at his 1500 North Wicker Park Avenue house and replaced them with lookalikes.
She said he bought each cat on Craigslist to avoid his mother’s suspicions, which Judge Kelly McCarthy called a “pattern” of gruesome behavior.
Martel was released on electronic monitoring after Judge McCarthy issued a $7,500 bond payment, CWB reported.
According to authorities, Martel recently informed his girlfriend that he enjoyed murdering cats and he was always like this ever since he was just eight.
Thomas Martel, 22 has been accused of killing at least six kittens since May and buying lookalike replacements of the animals so that his mother wouldn’t become suspicious. pic.twitter.com/7Bwr7fTBuv
— OldNewz (@Old_Newz) July 13, 2023
On May 23, his girlfriend reported the violence to authorities when a friend provided her with a video of Martel throwing a pillowcase containing a kitty named Shelly into Lake Michigan.
Dale-Schmidt claimed Martel bought another kitten, Shelly, and an adult male cat, Reggie, who was unharmed.
Martel drowned the kitten in a tub on June 3, supposedly under the effect of narcotics, after inviting his girlfriend over on May 26 to meet the new cats.
According to his partner, he grabbed the unconscious kitty from the water and performed thumb CPR. Martel told his partner he wanted to teach Shelly, his third Craigslist kitty, to swim two days later.
A few hours later, he allegedly took a bag from the pantry, informed his girlfriend the kitten’s carcass was inside, and threw it down the trash chute.
Unrepentant
Dale-Schmidt said his partner begged him to quit using Craigslist for the fourth time, so he booted her out and called her for money to buy the new pet.
On June 6, he bought Shelly, another kitten. After the cat urinated in its food bowl, he told his girlfriend it deserved a bath.
She stated he left the restroom 30 minutes later with the kitten wrapped in a bath towel and threw it down the trash chute. On June 7, a fifth kitty named Shelly repeated the pattern, and on June 18, his partner made a horrifying disclosure.
She allegedly found gruesome videos and photos of Martel with the fourth cat alive, including one marked ‘right before I murdered her.’
CWB claimed the woman sent herself the photographs and videos and notified Chicago police.
