Document text
Talent man says Jesus told him to kill cat By DANI DODGE A 21-year-old Talent man was arraigned on felony animal abuse charges Thursday for allegedly slitting a cat's throat with a butcher knife over an open Bible. The cat, a white Persian named Precious, belonged to the man's girlfriend and was killed in the bedroom of the Talent trailer home where they lived, police said. Joshua Caleb Brewer allegedly told people that Jesus told him to do it. "Sick, sick, sick," Deputy District Attorney Rachel Bridges said before the arraignment. Brewer was arraigned on charges of first-degree aggravated animal abuse, first-degree animal abuse and second-degree criminal mischief in relation to the cat killing. He also was arraigned on separate charges of possession of less than an ounce of marijuana and second-degree criminal trespass for crawling into Medford's Joy Christian Fellowship Church through a broken window March 22. Police discovered the cat killing Wednesday morning at a mobile home park at 812 S. Pacific Highway when they were called to a disorderly conduct. Brewer's girlfriend was in the hospital and her sister went by the home to feed her cats and dogs, police said. The sister and possibly other family members got in an argument with Brewer when he refused to leave the home, said Talent officer Jennifer Freeman. "When I responded they said they found the cat dead in the kitchen with its throat cut," Freeman said. Inside the home, the phone connection had been broken and food was thrown around. In the bedroom, a Bible was open to Jeremiah, chapter 17. Blood was splattered on the pages. A trail of blood led from the Bible to the spot under the kitchen table where the cat was found dead. Freeman found Brewer walking about five blocks away. His hands were covered with blood. "When I contacted the subject he admitted he killed it," Freeman said. "When I asked him why: 'Did the cat make you mad?' ... He just looked at me and laughed. "He mentioned to someone else, not to me, that Jesus told him to do it." Brewer was lodged in the Jackson County Jail. At his arraignment, Brewer said he understood the charges against him, but then giggled when animal abuse charges were read. Circuit Court Judge Ray White set Brewer's bail at $55,000 and ordered him not to have contact with his girlfriend, Teresa Travis. But after the hearing, Travis said she wanted to talk with Brewer to ask him what happened. Travis said Brewer may have been upset because he wasn't able to see her while she was in the hospital. The two had been together three months and he had never hurt her animals. "This is like a shock to me, totally," she said. Freeman said Talent police were called about Brewer three weeks ago when he went into the fire department and announced he was the new captain. He was taken to the hospital. Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2001 Mail Tribune, Inc.