Two more decapitated goats found
FORT WALTON BEACH — More than three months had passed since a headless goat turned up in the city’s streets.
Then just this past week, two more decapitated pygmy goats were found, leading investigators on a search for grotesque connections.
“There’s some significance to each one of these that only someone who would have been around them would know about,” said Dee Thompson, director of animal services with the Panhandle Animal Welfare Society.
A veterinarian’s necropsy performed Wednesday confirmed that both goats discovered this week were “definitely” decapitated by a human, Thompson said.
Fort Walton Beach police investigators, who are still exploring connections between this week’s discoveries and an Aug. 26 beheading, have precious few clues. If they keep those details secret, Thompson said it’s only to keep tips straight; they don’t want their hands tipped by a newspaper story.
Police Capt. Rose Berry called it an “educated guess” that all three incidents were connected, but that investigators aren’t certain. They also haven’t received any missing goat reports.
On Sunday, an officer responded to a goat-decapitation call at the Beal Parkway entrance to Beal Memorial Cemetery. He estimated the goat was dropped there in the early morning.
Then Tuesday morning, Thompson’s PAWS officers were first on the scene when a pygmy goat’s body and head turned up in a wooded area off the intersection of Wright Parkway and Rogers Street.
The goats weren’t excessively bloody when they were discovered, so it appears as if someone beheaded them somewhere else, Thompson said.
In the Aug. 26 incident, the goat was too bloated and sun-baked for a necropsy. Spotted on Jonquil Avenue near a church, the goat’s head was about 10 feet from its body, possibly after being dragged by an animal or hit by a car.
Both goats found in cooler weather this week were in much better condition and their heads were “in very close proximity” to the bodies, said Thompson.
She guessed that the incidents could be part of some “occult” ceremony, but Berry wasn’t so sure.
“Everything that I know about animals being used in religious ceremonies, they’re treated much better than just being thrown out on the road,” she said.
“The only connection is that there was one at the entrance of the cemetery,” and the one near the church on Jonquil, she said.
Anyone with information about the decapitations or missing goats may call PAWS at (850) 244-0196.
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| The journalist doesn't know the difference between "occult" and "cult". What a shame that he doesn't have a dictionary available. Every time someone with an obviously sick mind does something like this it is automatically linked to an alternative religion or a cult. Mainstream religions have their share of mentally ill people. |
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| Janet - Dec 07, 2007 07:02:22 AM | Remove Comment |