BLUE SPRINGS, MO (KCTV) -
A Blue Springs man is charged in a brutal animal abuse case. Investigators said Brandon Krahenbuhl confessed to torturing a small cat with his 3-month-girl present in the residence.
A warning to readers, the details are disturbing.
According to charging documents, the cat was tossed in a dumpster, but not before the suspect videotaped the entire episode on his cell phone.
A neighbor at Krahenbuhl's quad-plex, who didn't want be identified, said she watched in horror as young men sat on the porch of the apartment at Southwest Ninth Street & Eagle Court, watching the video and hollering out a play-by-play.
"…(They would say) ‘he's throwing him against the wall.' Then they'd stop and replay it," the neighbor said.
She said one of the young men had pulled the cat from the nearby dumpster, by the time police arrived about 10:30 p.m. Wednesday, and placed it on the porch for all to see.
Police said Krahenbuhl, 23, called them to the apartment saying he was having a mental breakdown and suicidal, then admitted to torturing and killing the cat to keep from hurting himself, he said.
The video captured Krahenbuhl attempting to hang the small gray and white cat, slamming it against walls and stomping on the helpless animal, according to court records.
"It's terrifying to know that that was going on above us the entire time and then it makes it even worse to know they have a baby," the female neighbor said.
Police said Krahenbuhl's 3-month-old daughter was left in his care when the abuse happened inside the upstairs apartment. The neighbor said she heard a woman screaming from the apartment earlier that day.
"There was a whole bunch of commotion and then she was screaming, ‘Why is there so much blood? There's blood everywhere!' And kept flushing the toilet," the neighbor said.
The neighbor said she's had concerns ever since the family moved into the quad-plex a few months ago, but they weren't about mental health.
"There's people up there constantly, a different person every day," she said.
Now her concern is for the child who still lives there.
"I mean, she's there all the time, and he did that to a cat? Makes you wonder what's next," the neighbor said.
Krahenbuhl allegedly had killed a cat previously.
He is not in jail. He was taken to a mental health hospital on a 96-hour hold. Bond was set at $50,000 once he goes to jail.
The animal abuse charge filed against him is a felony.
No one answered the door at his apartment Friday afternoon.
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