A Florida kitten killing case has put Lee County investigators at the center of a disturbing animal cruelty arrest after deputies say a father killed the family’s kittens in front of his teenage daughter. David Charette Jr., 48, was taken into custody this week after deputies responded to a home in Pine Manor and found allegations that he had tried to drown and strike a two-month-old kitten named Luna.
The Lee County Sheriff's Office said Charette was charged with aggravated animal cruelty after authorities accused him of killing two kittens and injuring a third. Witnesses told deputies that he abused and killed the kittens as punishment when his teenage daughter “acted up.” In body camera footage released by the sheriff's office, Charette defended how he treated Luna and told deputies the cat was in “perfectly healthy condition.” He said he needed to bathe the animal because it soiled itself in the cage, adding that it was covered in waste and cried when he washed it, which upset his daughter.
Sheriff Carmine Marceno said the claims involving Charette’s daughter made the case especially troubling. Speaking to CBS affiliate WINK, Marceno said a daughter reported that when she got in trouble, her father killed her kittens. Marceno called the allegations “sickening,” underscoring the emotional dimension of the case beyond the cruelty accusation itself. The sheriff’s office has not described any injuries to the daughter, but deputies said the case involved punishment carried out through harm to family pets.
Investigators later learned that the alleged abuse did not stop with the incident involving Luna. According to deputies, Charette had also killed two other kittens over the previous year. In June, he allegedly smothered a one-month-old kitten with a bleach-soaked rag. In another incident, investigators said he killed a three-month-old kitten with a blow-dryer. Authorities said both kittens were buried in the backyard, though a search of the property recovered only one of them. The case now sits at the intersection of animal cruelty enforcement and child welfare concerns, since the alleged abuse was tied to discipline inside the home.
