Scott Allen Atkinson of Los Angeles wanted an effective way to express his displeasure with his girlfriend, so he killed her cat Tweety and left a note telling her to “follow the blood trail to find Tweety.” A judge just left an order for Atkinson to follow to jail for two years.

Atkinson, 45, pleaded no contest to two felony charges of animal cruelty and threatening the woman’s life. He also told her that he was planning to kill her mother. Nice.

It is disturbingly common for ex-boyfriends to kill the pets of their former girlfriends. Every year, we see a handful of these cases (with many more probably going unreported). In addition to criminal charges, civil charges for intentional emotional distress and other torts are possible.

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