BOISE, Idaho (CBS2) — ***Warning, some of this material describes graphic incidents***
On Wednesday, 19-year-old Krystal Scott of Indiana was charged with crushing animals to death, and making videos of it.
Animal crushing is “conduct in which one or more living non-human mammals, birds, reptiles, or amphibians is purposely crushed, burned, drowned, suffocated, impaled, or otherwise subjected to serious bodily injury," according to the probable cause affidavit.
Scott is accused of posting gruesome animal abuse videos to her social media accounts. Cats, dogs and other animals were hanged, skinned and decapitated, according to court documents.
People who saw them in Boise were alarmed and started digging. Based on older posts, they believed Scott was living in Idaho.
The Idaho Humane Society and several locals compiled all the information on the pages they could and sent it to the Boise Police Department.
Several law enforcement agencies, including the FBI and the Ada County Sheriff's Office, traced where the videos came from using "internet sleuths." That led them not to Idaho, but Indiana.
Think of an internet sleuth like an online detective, or what police call "cyber tipsters." They use platforms and other tools to find information on people posting online.
The probable cause affidavit showed one specific instance of an Instagram message from the gruesome accounts in question describing plans to kill a pregnant Siamese cat and kitten. The message included pictures of a gray kitten, a black kitten and a Siamese cat inside a cage.
Another Instagram account, named similar to the others, shared a photo of a decapitated dog that looked similar to the cage the cats were being held in.
After a lengthy investigation, investigators were able to link IP addresses from the social media posts and messages to Scott's home in Indiana.
In Kokomo, police and federal agents served a search warrant and interviewed Scott. At her home, they discovered several dead animals and animal body parts, including two cats in Scott's freezer.
They said initially, Scott denied killing the animals, but later said she has a good and a bad side. She told investigators her good side loves cats and dogs, while her bad side tells her to kill them.
They also said Scott admitted to using online aliases and decoy cellphones to throw off law enforcement.
Several others said Scott attempted to adopt animals from other community members, so she didn't have to use a shelter.
Scott was arrested, and charged in federal court.
This is a developing story. CBS2's original article can be found here.
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