ASHEVILLE, N.C. (Citizen Times/AP) — Two people are behind bars after allegedly leaving a mutilated, dead cat at a North Carolina grocery store, according to warrants on file at the Buncombe County Magistrate's Office, while a third suspect is still at large.
Shariah Jessamyn Metzger, 26, and Jace Lee Greene, 29, have been charged with misdemeanors for "improper burial of an animal," per local ordinance. Asheville Police are also searching for Zackery Eugene Greene on the same charge.
The trio stand accused of leaving the body on the property of the Ingles grocery store at 669 Haywood Road in West Asheville.
Officers were alerted to social media images showing the dead cat strung up and sliced open, posed with needles in its body and drugs in its mouth.
A representative from Brother Wolf Animal Rescue told the Citizen Times the animal in question was recovered and scanned for a microchip, and identified as a cat adopted from the shelter.
"Brother Wolf was alerted because the info on the chip was able to be traced back to us," said Andee Bingham, editorial and grants manager for the shelter, in an email.
Owner Aaron Nastor told the local ABC affiliate WLOS that Kitty was their sweet family cat, and crimes like this are not what Asheville is about.
Both Metzger and Greene are being held at Buncombe County Detention Center on $15,000 bond, according to Christina Hallingse, public information officer for the Asheville Police Department.
Hallingse said a necropsy, or animal autopsy, will be conducted this week to determine the cause of death.
It's unclear if the suspects have lawyers.
