Police believe a 30-year-old Winneconne man killed his girlfriend's cats, then hid their remains in her couch and backyard.

The Winnebago County District Attorney's office filed charges against Michael Kmecheck. He faces two felony counts of mistreatment of animals causing death, among other offenses and will make an initial appearance February 8.

It's a crime police say they rarely see, but one officers worry could escalate into something worse.  "Sometimes offenders that mistreat animals later on do more serious offenses to people," Sergeant Andrew Lecker with the Oshkosh Police Department said.

In December, police were called to an Oshkosh apartment after the woman who lives there reported receiving strange text messages from her then-boyfriend Kmecheck. She was at work at the time.  Kmecheck was convicted of abusing her in October (Case # 2009CM001437)

The woman says she was afraid Kmecheck would do something rash, so she called 911. She arrived to the apartment at the same time an officer did. They found the place vandalized and the woman's two cats missing.

The officer helped the woman search for her cats in the apartment and its enclosed back yard. They found the first animal dead, outside under a snowmobile trailer. The woman says it was Wilson, a cat she loves and has had for two years.

According to the criminal complaint, "it appeared to have suffered some type of blunt force trauma to the head." The woman didn't find her other cat of 10 years, Molly, until two days later.

According to the criminal complaint she found a comforter with what looked like cat blood on it. Police returned and searched the apartment, eventually finding an odd hole in the woman's couch. Investigators looked inside and found her black cat, Molly, was deceased and had been stuffed inside the couch.

The woman says she was horrified.

"The cats were send down to Madison for a necropsy," Lecker said.   The results showed signs of struggle, bruises and cuts.

Police believe the woman's boyfriend is responsible. But according to court records, he denies hurting the cats or sending messages to the woman.

Update 2/8/10:  According to court records (Case # 2010CF000086) Kmecheck (DOB 7/30/79) has been charged with 2 felony counts of mistreatment of animals causing death, 1 misdemeanor count of criminal damage to property and 5 misdemeanor counts of bail jumping.  He is due back in court on February 25th for a preliminary hearing.

Reference:

Fox 11