‘A threat to public safety’: 31-year-old man sentenced for torturing, dismembering cats

WICHITA, Kan. (KWCH/Gray News) - A man in Kansas faces more than a decade in prison after he was convicted of torturing and dismembering cats.

The Sedgwick County District’s Attorney Office said 31-year-old Logan Cavender, of Wichita, was found guilty of 10 counts of felony cruelty to animals, two counts of misdemeanor stalking and one count of misdemeanor breach of privacy.

The district attorney’s office said each of the 13 counts against Cavender carried a possible sentence of 12 months in jail and the judge “imposed a maximum of 13 years, saying Cavender was a threat to public safety.”

Officials said the charges stemmed from the discovery of 10 dismembered cats that were left in a rural part of Sedgwick County in 2022. An investigating animal control officer found three cats individually wrapped in trash bags. He reported, “It looked like the heads were bashed in, the feet were bloody and the tails were missing.”

A local veterinarian conducted a necropsy on the bodies and said they were some of the worst cases of cat injuries they had seen.

The stalking charges resulted from interactions Cavender allegedly had with his wife and babysitter while he was being investigated in the animal abuse case.

The breach of privacy charge resulted from Cavender secretly recording a family member in 2020. The video was discovered as authorities were investigating the animal abuse case, according to the district attorney’s office.

The district attorney’s office also said the judge “made findings that the breach of privacy was sexually motivated, which will require Cavender to as a sex offender upon his release.”