Florida Man Arrested In Brutal Killing Of Ollie The Pit Bull

A Florida man was arrested Wednesday in connection with the death of Ollie, a pit bull that was stabbed and left to die in a suitcase in October in Hollywood.

Hollywood Police Department confirmed the news and said that the DNA evidence found at the scene of the incident matched with that of the suspect, who was identified as 31-year-old Brendan Evans, Fox-affiliated television station WSVN-TV reported.

Police said Evans has a history of targeting animals. He was charged with aggravated animal cruelty.

Ollie was discovered in an alley on Lee Street, Oct. 10. The dog was taken to an animal hospital where he eventually died due to 37 stab wounds days later.

Police said that they found “gruesome evidence of cruelty” in Evans apartment, NBC Boston reported. Miranda Grossman, a spokeswoman for the Hollywood Police Department, revealed in a statement that the case of Ollie is the most horrific case of animal cruelty that the department has come across.

“Hollywood detectives and officers have seen and investigated animal cruelty cases before, but none as horrific as what we’ve seen in the case of Ollie,” she said.

The report in WSVN-TV also revealed that after weeks of interviewing the suspect, authorities discovered a pattern to Evan’s abuse of animals.

The report states that Evans willingly submitted his DNA sample and allowed police to search his apartment. However, when police executed the search warrant they found multiple dead animals in his apartment, including several dead rats with their body parts removed. The authorities also found cat paws, blood spatter on walls and signs of fur in the oven. They also found one of Ollie’s teeth inside Evans’ wallet at the time of his arrest.

One of Evans’ neighbors spoke to WSVN-TV and revealed that she couldn’t believe something so horrifying was happening right across the street. “It’s scary. I knew it was somebody in the area, you know. I just didn’t know it was this close to home, right across the street. …That’s horrifying. I can’t even believe it,” she said.

According to officials, religion could have been a motivating factor behind Evans’ actions. According to a report by Fort Lauderdale police in February, Evans told police officials that he wanted to kill a duck as he performs voodoo. He also said it was his religious right to do so.

During the thorough search of his apartment police discovered an 8-pointed star drawn on a kitchen wall and a shrine with candles and pieces of the Crimestoppers flyer about Ollie’s death. Investigators also noted a ripped in half Ollie flyer placed between two separate candles.

Ollie was first found by police officials on Oct. 10 after authorities received a phone call about an abandoned suitcase on 1900 block of Lee Street. The officers found a fatally injured Ollie inside the suitcase.

The dog was then taken to the VCA Hollywood Animal Hospital for treatment, where he underwent multiple surgeries. He died on Oct. 12. Ollie was believed to be about 2 years old at the time of the incident.

Interestingly, this is not the first time Evans has been arrested by the authorities. He was previously arrested by Broward Sheriff’s Office in 2012 for domestic battery and is currently on probation for a bank robbery in Hernando County.

Acting Police Chief Chris O’Brien said in a statement that animal cruelty in any form would not be tolerated and they will try their best to provide justice for Ollie.