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Stalker Leaving Animal Heads on Family's Porch ala 'The Godfather'

By Jason Beahm | Last updated on

There is weird, there is gross, and there is strange. A case in Idaho Falls involving a stalker is all three together, mixed with a pinch of "The Godfather."

Police say that in the past two months, an Idaho family has found a severed elk head, a gutted rabbit corpse and the severed head of a mule deer on their front porch. The mule deer was left in the early hours of New Year's Day, which is a rather disturbing New Year's gift.

A family of seven lives there, with five children. It is unknown what motive the person leaving the animal corpses might have. The Idaho Falls police do not have a suspect, but they do have one person of interest that the family suggested they speak with, the Post Register reports.

"It's real mean," Idaho Falls Police Capt. Mark McBride said, Reuters reports. "The kids are certainly scared ... We have not seen a case like it. At this time, we have no suspects but there were footprints in the snow and we're now working with that and other clues."

Idaho has a law directed at animal cruelty, Idaho Code 25-3504, which reads:

Every person who is cruel to any animal, or causes or procures any animal to be cruelly treated; and whoever, having the charge or custody of any animal, either as owner or otherwise, subjects any animal to cruelty, is, for every such offense, guilty of a misdemeanor and shall, upon conviction, be punished in accordance with section 25-3520A, Idaho Code. Any person convicted for a first violation of any of the provisions of this chapter shall be punished, for each offense, by a jail sentence of not more than six (6) months or by a fine of not less than one hundred dollars ($100) or more than five thousand dollars ($5,000), or by both such fine and imprisonment.

However, depending upon the facts surrounding the animal heads case, more serious charges are possible if the offender is apprehended. Some possibilities might include trespassing, stalking and harassment.

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