Man Charged With Killing Girlfriend's Cats

Leslie Higdon of Lincoln County said her boyfriend killed her cats last week because he didn't want them in the house. Now her boyfriend is facing felony animal abuse charges.

The five cats were a part of a mixed litter from a cat named Smokey Joe.

"It made me mad. I was really hurt. I was crying about that," said Higdon.

She said it was hot that day so she decided to bring the animals inside her trailer. That angered her boyfriend, Mario Luna.

"He said don't bring those cats in the trailer and then he started shaking them and choking them," said Higdon.

She said Luna buried three of them behind their home.

Animal Control Supervisor Sgt. Keith Poovey said what happened next shocked even them.

"Two of them he put in a plastic grocery bag and threw them in the front seat of his truck," he said.

Higdon put baby powder on the seats to try and neutralize the smell.

After the cats were killed, Higdon went back to the owners of Smokey Joe and asked for him. When the owners asked what happened to the other cats, Higdon reluctantly told them.

"I think it's horrible. I don't see how anybody could treat an animal that way," said Smokey Joe's owner.

They refused to give Higdon Smokey Joe and called animal control.

"We're looking for people that's going to come by, take the cats and give them a good home. We don't expect people to come, pick them up, and take them home and cruel to them and murder them," said Smokey Joe's owner.

Luna could get five years in prison.

In North Carolina, animal cruelty can be a misdemeanor or even a felony.

If someone intentionally kills or hurts an animal, it's a class one misdemeanor.

If that harm is intentional and malicious or especially cruel, it's considered a felony.