Press Release

Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced that Jalen Gonzalez has been indicted on charges of aggravated cruelty to animals, criminal mischief and other related crimes for killing his girlfriend’s cat, named Kitty, in January. The defendant allegedly pulled the cat by her head and leg and left the animal with a partial internal decapitation and other injuries.

District Attorney Katz said: “This animal endured one of the most gratuitously violent deaths that we have ever seen in the borough of Queens. As alleged, defendant Jalen Gonzalez was upset with his girlfriend and turned his ire on the woman’s pet, named Kitty. The cat was stretched to the point where her head was severed from her spine, and she sustained a crushed skull, fractured jaw and numerous other injuries. No animal or person should ever suffer this way. This is another horrifying example of why New York needs stronger animal cruelty laws to permit appropriate penalties in such cases.”

Gonzalez, 23, of Woodhaven, was arraigned today on a grand jury indictment charging him with aggravated cruelty to animals, criminal mischief in the fourth degree, attempted assault in the third degree and harassment in the third degree. Supreme Court Justice Diego Freire ordered the defendant to return to court on July 21. The charges are not bail eligible under New York state law. If convicted, he faces up to two years in jail.

DA Katz said that, according to the charges and investigation, just after midnight on January 12, the defendant and his girlfriend, who was also a co-worker, were in the woman’s residence. Gonzalez allegedly became inebriated and refused to leave the home. The defendant then grabbed the woman’s leg and squeezed it. The woman pulled herself away, left the apartment and called a relative for help.

When the woman returned to her apartment with her uncle, Gonzalez was observed holding the woman’s cat by her neck and hind leg. The defendant was allegedly stretching the animal apart.

Kitty’s back legs were mangled and broken, and the animal had blood on her mouth, head and body. Gonzalez’s shirt was saturated with blood, and both blood spatter and vomit were present on the ceiling, walls and floor of the room.

The defendant was arrested at the scene by members of the NYPD. The investigation was conducted by Officer Daniel Fisher.

A forensic veterinarian performed a necropsy on Kitty and determined that the animal suffered a number of significant injuries, including:

• A crushed skull, flattened on one side with dozens of fractures present
• A jaw fractured in multiple places and missing teeth
• Eyes protruding from both sockets, with her right eye ruptured
• The animal’s head was internally severed from her spine
• A torn diaphragm
• Fractures to 24 of the animal’s ribs
• A torn artery leading to the animal’s heart
• Torn or lacerated liver, spleen and kidneys
• A shattered pelvis, with both of her hind legs fractured

Assistant District Attorney Katira Campos of the District Attorney’s Domestic Violence Bureau is prosecuting the case under the supervision of Assistant District Attorney Nicole Reid, Interim Section Chief of the Animal Cruelty Prosecutions Unit, and Assistant District Attorney Mary Kate Quinn, Bureau Chief of the Domestic Violence Bureau, and under the overall supervision of Executive Assistant District Attorney for Special Prosecutions Joyce A. Smith.