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Kentucky Man Allegedly Skinned His Neighbors' Dogs To Make 'Doggy Coat'
"There isn't anything wrong with me making myself a fur coat," Jonathan D. Watkins allegedly told a Kentucky state trooper investigating an animal abuse complaint.
A Kentucky man allegedly took a page out of Cruella de Vil's playbook and tried to make a coat out of dogs.
A David resident made an animal cruelty complaint against his neighbor, Jonathan D. Watkins, two days before Christmas, the Louisville Courier Journal reported last week.
He told Kentucky state troopers that Watkins, 38, showed up at his home covered in blood and asking for a cigarette, according to an arrest report obtained by the Courier Journal. The neighbor said he asked what Watkins had been doing and Watkins allegedly replied, "I've been skinning dogs."
While he didn't believe Watkins at first, the man said he soon realized that two of his dogs were missing. When he went up the road, he said he saw what seemed to be four dog skins on Watkins’ front porch and two dog carcasses, according to local outlet LEX 18. He said two of his neighbor’s dogs went missing as well.
When approached by a trooper, Watkins allegedly said, "I'm making myself a doggy coat," according to the arrest report. He allegedly added, "Yes, there isn't anything wrong with me making myself a fur coat."
He even allegedly detailed how he killed the dogs before skinning them, noting that he "stabbed them in the head with my knife,” according to the arrest report.
Watkins was arrested the same day. He was ordered held without bond on Dec. 27. He has been charged with four counts of torture of a dog/cat with serious physical injury/death. He could face between one and five years in prison if convicted.
The neighbor that contacted the state police said that Watkins has a history of mental illness. Watkins was ordered last week to undergo an examination at the Kentucky Correctional Psychiatric Center, according to the Courier Journal.
This is not Watkins' first run-in with the law. He was accused of killing his own stepfather, a deputy jailer, in 2010. The murder charge was dismissed after it was determined he was not criminally responsible for the death, according to LEX 18.
