OGDEN, Utah (KUTV) — Bruce Anthony Saunders, 33, is charged with two felony counts of animal torture and a misdemeanor count of criminal mischief after he was arrested for eating the internal organs of a dog and a cat, authorities say.
Saunders, of Ogden, reportedly refused to let officers into his house. The officers were responding to a report he’d cut off his finger. According to Ogden Police, officers returned to his home the next day after his girlfriend discovered large amounts of blood.
Officers found a dismembered dog and cat in Saunders’ bathtub. A bloody bat was also found. Saunders told officers he’d killed the animals and “ate their hearts,” police documents stated.
The incident reportedly occurred on June 7, according to the Ogden Standard-Examiner. Tuesday, a 2nd District Court judge signed an arrest warrant based on charges filed against Saunders by the Weber County Attorney’s Office.
Officers found a bloody baseball bat in the living room before discovering the remains of a dog and a cat in the tub. Both had extensive lacerations and the cat had been partially dismembered. Saunders did sever one of his fingers the day before, according to the warrant.
A warrant was issued Tuesday for Saunders’ arrest, who investigators said in charging documents at that time, “is currently a transient” and “has been reported hiding in the woods but has yet to be found by police after searching for him,” the Deseret News reports.
*story by True Crime Daily