A man suspected of killing and kidnapping cats in Orange County was arrested on Wednesday, police confirmed.
Officers served a search warrant at the suspect’s home on Wilshire Avenue to arrest the man that the Santa Ana Police Department described as a “serial cat killer.”
In an Instagram video posted on Wednesday, the department identified the suspect as Alejandro Acosta Oliveros, 45, of Santa Ana.
Police confirmed to KTLA’s Chip Yost that Oliveros has already confessed to what he’s done, but that they’re still trying to figure out just how large this case is.
As far as how many cats Oliveros has killed, detectives did not have a specific number or estimate available as of Wednesday afternoon, but said that they believe it was “a lot.”
Santa Ana residents had been speaking out for weeks, alerting the public – especially pet owners – of a man who’s been caught on camera luring and grabbing cats out of their loving homes and taking off, leaving families devastated.
Police said that Oliveros is believed to be the man behind many, if not all, of these cat thefts – especially one that took place in Westminster last month.
Surveillance video taken on March 21 showed the moment a man, believed to be Oliveros, snagged Clubber, a 10-month-old Bengal Lynx cat.
Clubber was eventually returned to his home, but Oliveros was not caught – until now.
As if the catnapping reports weren’t already tragic enough, neighbors started posting to social media sites such as Nextdoor, saying the cats were now being killed as well.
“We saw our cameras, and this guy just grabbed a neighborhood cat, seemed like he tied his legs up and took him around 5 p.m.,” read one of the Nextdoor posts. “He went walking on Shelton Street towards McFadden. The cat is black with light brown spots.”
A person in another post said the man injected a cat that later died. “Hello! I’m near El Salvador park, and my neighbor’s cat was killed by a man who injected it with some sort of substance.”
Again, the investigation is ongoing, but police said they expect to get some files charged, hopefully in the next few days.
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