Drifter Who Skinned Cat With Butter Knife Sentenced To 2 Years In Prison

As the old saying goes, there is more than one way to skin a cat — of course anyone interested in that particular action should be aware that doing so will result in a conviction for animal cruelty.

NBC News reports that drifter Russell Christopher Hofstad, 25, pleaded no contest to a felony animal cruelty charge and guilty to a burglary charge last month, and has been sentenced by an Arizona Superior Court judge to two years in prison. On top of the prison term, he was also sentenced to four years probation.

Hofstad was camping out in a Phoenix warehouse used as a music venue and it was there he was found by policed after having killed the cat. Hofstad didn’t just stop with the animal cruelty of killing and skinning the cat, but ate some of it, had several organs stashed in a cooler and he was wearing the tail and some of the cat’s innards around his neck like a necklace. Hofstad admitted to skinning the cat with a butter knife.

KCTV5 reported that Hofstad told police he had recently been released from jail and was homeless, hence his breaking into the warehouse. Also, he said he was hungry, which is why he killed the cat with a stick. He planned on having the cat stuffed and wanted to use its skeleton as a decoration at a party. There was no mention of why he was wearing the cat’s innards.

Officers also reported that when Hofstad was found, he was wearing face paint and seemed to be under the influence of either drugs or alcohol.