Tennessee: Knoxville man Mitchell Whitt accused of torturing ex-boyfriend's cat

TENNESSEE -- A Knoxville man abducted and tortured his ex-boyfriend's cat after a lovers' quarrel, police said.

Mitchell William Whitt, 34, was arrested on the morning of Oct. 14 after Knoxville Police Department officers responded to an animal cruelty call at the Isabella Towers apartment complex, 1515 Isabella Circle, KPD spokesman Darrell DeBusk said.

Joshua James Busha, 32, told police he and Whitt were in a domestic relationship that ended on Sept. 13. The break-up angered Whitt to the point that he stole Busha's cat, Suka, DeBusk said.

"Suka" means "female dog" in Russian.

Over the next few weeks, Whitt repeatedly called and texted Busha, threatening to kill, torture and drug the cat, DeBusk said.

On Oct. 14, Whitt showed up at his ex-boyfriend's apartment armed with a baseball bat and a hatchet and banged on the door, police said. When Busha looked through the peephole, Whitt told him Suka was tied up with zip ties inside his backpack, then took the cat out of the backpack and held it in front of the peephole for Busha to see, DeBusk said.

Busha became upset, opened the door and began fighting with Whitt, DeBusk said. While it's not clear whether Busha wrenched one of the weapons away from Whitt, a witness who called E-911 said one man had a baseball bat, and the other, an ax, according to an arrest warrant. Whitt bit Busha on the inside of his right forearm during the clash, the warrant states.

While the two humans fought, Suka ran inside and hid under a bed. Busha and a neighbor later retrieved the cat from under the bed to find it was "tangled up" with a harness, collar, leash and zip ties, and had a "substantial open wound around its neck," DeBusk said.

Suka was treated at Young-Williams Animal Center and returned to Busha on Monday, DeBusk said.

Whitt was arrested on a charge of domestic assault, according to court records. Police reviewed the details of the case and consulted with prosecutors, who instructed officers to file aggravated animal cruelty charges against Whitt "since the suspect with no justifiable purpose intentionally caused serious physical injury to a companion animal" in a "depraved and sadistic manner," DeBusk said.

(News Sentinel - Oct 20, 2016)