The Ohio woman charged with killing and eating a cat has pleaded guilty to animal cruelty and was sentenced to a year in jail. Allexis Ferrell, 27, entered her plea in Stark County’s Court of Common Pleas and has been behind bars on $100,000 bond since her August arrest.
According to authorities, Ferrell was arrested after she was found squatting next to a dead cat on the grounds of a Canton public housing complex, where she resided. She was covered in blood and had fur on her lips, and had apparently killed the animal by stomping on its head and then eating it.
Ferrell’s case drew national attention after some supporters of Donald Trump pointed to the incident as evidence of a claim by the president-elect that Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio were eating cats and dogs owned by local residents. Ferrell is not of Haitian descent and was born in the U.S.
The incident also shed light on Ferrell’s troubled past, which includes a 2023 felony conviction for child endangerment and multiple theft convictions. Her case has been marked by a number of delays, including a scheduled competency hearing that never occurred. In October, a judge ordered the release of Ferrell’s medical records, but it is unclear if this review was conducted before her guilty plea.