ROCK ISLAND, Ill. — Editor's note: The video above aired on May 5, 2022.
A Rock Island family is still looking for answers as to who may have killed its cat in late April.
The cat, Milo, was found skinned and gutted just a few hundred yards away from owner Steve Havercamp's home.
The family and the community have joined together to raise money, in the effort to raise funds to lead to the arrest of the person who may have committed the acts against the animal.
Havercamp said the reward fund has climbed from an initial $1,000 up to $10,000. A GoFundMe page called "Justice for Milo" has raised $6,500 as of Thursday, May 12. CrimeStoppers contributed an additional $2,500, along with the $1,000 initially put up by the Havercamp family.
"It's amazing what the community has done," Havercamp said. "If you look at the GoFundMe page, some are identified and some are anonymous. It looks like 136 donors, many of which are local."
Havercamp said many people have been submitting tips to him and the Rock Island police, but he is unsure of the status of those tips. As of Thursday, there had been no arrests made in connection with this act.
The police quickly assessed that the killing was done by a human, with an animal control officer of 30 years saying it was the worst thing they had seen.
"It clearly had been done by a human because of the cuts which had been made to his body. He had been cleaned like a deer or rabbit, skinned. His pelt was completely missing," Havercamp said. "There was no blood at the scene, and his kidneys had been removed, surgically removed, and placed by the body, which was the only organ on site."
In the event that there is no arrest in the case, the reward money will go to local animal shelter King's Harvest Pet Rescue.
"It is collecting donations that will be used as a reward to be paid to anybody who comes forward and assists the police in locating and convicting the sick person who did this," Havercamp said. "In the event that the person isn't caught, those funds will go directly to King's Harvest."