Oregon: 'What did you do with my cat?' Tim Bigelow accused of killing neighbor's pet

OREGON -- A Springfield man faces accusations he shot and killed a neighbor's cat that he claimed killed his chickens.

Springfield Police arrested Tim Bigelow, 50, on Tuesday on charges of first degree aggravated animal abuse, first degree theft and second degree criminal trespass.

Bigelow lives on South D Street in Springfield. He accused their cat Aran of killing his chickens, police said.

"He said that he had some chickens and that her cat had been over and killed the chickens," Sgt. Rich Charboneau said. "There was no evidence of that by the officer that he observed."

Police said Bigelow went on to his neighbor's property and grabbed the cat by the neck.

"I said, 'That's my cat, you need to put her down. She's not trying to hurt your chickens or chicks,'" Aran's owner Stacey Fay recalled. "He had my cat Aran by the scruff of the neck, and she was breathing very strange."

"He goes into his yard, and I don't know what to do," she said. "I'm sort of shocked; I don't want to approach him because I'm scared of him."

When Fay again saw Bigelow, she called out to him.

"I said what did you do with my cat? Where is she?" she said. "And he said, 'I killed her and I threw her away'."

Bigelow told officers he had shot the cat with a pellet gun at Dorris Ranch park and disposed of the body, police said.

"It's pretty unusual," Charboneau said. "I mean we've had people kill animals before, but usually it's defending something, a person; and he was very forthright in saying he had done it and why he had done it."

But he didn't tell police what happened to Aran's body, said Larry Phillips, Fay's husband.

"We have no idea where her body is at so we can't bury her or say our last goodbyes, you know?" he said. "It's an incredibily horrible experience for a child - 7 years old and on her birthday - so it's something she's going to associate with for the rest of her life."

"It killed me that we can't even bury her body," Fay added, "because he refuses to tell police what he did with it."

(KCBY - March 16, 2016)