After starting the adoption process for an orange and white cat named Lennox at the shelter, Christopher C. Gugliuzza, 19, bolted from the building with the feline and made a getaway in his car to his residence.
His girlfriend reported to police that he tortured Lennox — slamming the animal against a wall, choking and dragging it by a power cord until he took the cat to a nearby wooded area. At this point, the girlfriend told police, the cat was whimpering, but still alive, Bloomington Police Department Detective Sgt. John Kovach said. The girlfriend reported Gugliuzza then delivered what she believed to be a fatal blow with a large rock.
Throughout the ordeal, the girlfriend claimed she repeatedly told him to stop, Kovach said.
However, this wasn’t an isolated incident, she told police. There was also Misty, Rosie and Peaches — all cats. Whether or not each of the felines came from the Bloomington animal shelter was unknown as of Tuesday afternoon, but Kovach said Gugliuzza had a history of adopting from the shelter. Bloomington police used shelter adoption records to track and arrest Gugliuzza, Kovach said.