Local News
Man found guilty of mutilating two cats, leaving their severed heads in box in Bonita Springs
Tyler Watkins
•5/28/2026
Source: Gulf Coast News Now
LEE COUNTY, Fla. —
A Lee County man has been found guilty of mutilating two cats and leaving their severed heads in a box that was found in a Bonita Springs neighborhood.
In March 2025, a man called deputies to a home in the 25000 block of Carnoustie Court after finding the box sitting on top of his mailbox smelling like gasoline.
The State Attorney's Office said the homeowner and his wife had been threatened by Robert James Luther III, 38, for more than a year. LCSO later confirmed that Luther had been near the crime scene, and investigators noted his van was there the morning of the crime.
A deputy reportedly saw Luther at a car wash scrubbing his van close to the time of the crime. According to investigators, surveillance video showed Luther had been at the car wash cleaning his van for three hours and had a red gas can sitting on top of it in part of the video.
Luther was later arrested as he sat parked in his van behind a closed business. Deputies found the following items inside the van:
- Multiple firearms, including two rifles and a shotgun
- A safe containing two more firearms
- A pellet gun
- A machete
- A saw blade
- Dark clothing
- Two rolls of duct tape
LCSO investigators also conducted a forensic download of Luther's phone and discovered a video showing Luther the day before shooting two cats in the woods and making graphic comments about the cats, according to the State Attorney's Office.
Investigators said the cats in the video matched the heads found in the box and that the firearm in the video matched one found in his van.
Luther was found guilty of two counts of animal cruelty and two counts of aggravated stalking. He's scheduled to be sentenced on July 27.
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