Man released from jail with no charges in connection with Centralia cat death

By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – Lewis County prosecutors did not file any criminal charges today against the 24-year-old man arrested last night for allegedly killing a cat in north Centralia.

Kyle B. Burke was booked into the Lewis County Jail for  animal cruelty, but released today.

“The whole thing is kind of murky,” Lewis County Chief Criminal Deputy Prosecutor Brad Meagher said this afternoon.

Centralia police interviewed several individuals, including children, when they responded to the apartment complex on the 100 block of Virginia Drive yesterday evening. Police reported this morning they were told Burke killed the cat with a knife, but Burke denied that.

“Somebody was very cruel to this animal,” Meagher said. “But I can’t say for sure it’s this guy.”

At some point, the cat was dropped from a second-floor balcony, he said.

“In this case, there seemed to be some evidence, when police talked to all the kids, it could have suffered terrible injury at the hands of a kid,” Meagher said. “And possibly he was putting it out of its misery.”

Prosecutors don’t have the feline’s body for evidence, because for whatever reason, police didn’t pick it up, Meagher said. Although he indicated that wasn’t the primary cause no charges were filed

He said when they looked over everything, there just was not enough evidence to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Burke intentionally was cruel to the cat.

Meagher said his office may be talking further with Centralia detectives about the case next week.

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10 Responses to “Man released from jail with no charges in connection with Centralia cat death”

  1. Leisha says:

    That 11yo that broke the poor kitties neck needs to be locked up. What kind of person chokes another to because of anger? A PSYCHOPATH that’s who… No doubt she will kill again!

  2. Plenty O Toole says:

    Jeffrey Dahmer started out by killing cats, what’s that say about our society?!

  3. Bo Rupert says:

    Why didn’t Officer Phillip Reynolds go to jail when he killed a cat?????

  4. Pea body slim. says:

    #Justice4Jay or vote the Lewis County Prosecutor Away. We will not Tolerate this in our Community. Centralia PD you have failed the community and people are pissed. Do your jobs.

  5. Bo Rupert says:

    If I were Mr. Burke, I would sue. Here they arrested a man with no just cause or the proper evidence to do so. He is stupid if he doesn’t sue.

  6. Karen Price says:

    What do you expect from Centralia

  7. J.Z. says:

    So this guy was arrested for animal cruelty, his name published claiming he had viciously killed a cat, and now police are basically saying, “Uhh, we have no idea what happened.”

    Nice.

    Burke was arrested on the testimony of some kids, one of whom may have been the actual culprit, the body of the cat is gone, now the case just goes up in smoke. Except that Burke’s name has been dragged through the mud, as he’s got an unresolved accusation of animal cruelty hanging over him.

    Well done, Centralia P.D. First-class crime investigation there.

  8. RIPHeathcliff says:

    Heathcliff should have seen it comming the way he kept stealing all those fish and fucking with everyone in the neighborhood like that. But who would know the circumstances would end up being like white trashiness swallowed up the board game clye, and through it up in the walmart bathroom garbage can in chehalis like that.

  9. Carol Wallin says:

    Any incident that concerns possible animal cruelty needs to be seriously looked into. If the police left the animals remains at the scene..this is unacceptable. To some it may of been just a cat but to someone else it may have been their best friend. As this animal traveled over Rainbow Bridge I hope it met up with many of its feline friends and now is playing and happier than it ever was before.

  10. BleeBloo says:

    Please don’t hurt your pets. If you don’t want them or like them, turn them over to animal control.