Robert James Luther III, of Bonita Springs, was sentenced to the maximum sentence of 5 years in prison, to be served consecutively on each of four counts, for a total of 20 years in prison, for two counts of Aggravated Animal Cruelty and two counts of Aggravated Stalking, in a case involving mutilating cats. The defendant was convicted in May, following a three-day trial in Lee County.
Assistant State Attorney Erin Hughes, Lee County Assistant Circuit Court Chief, and Assistant State Attorney Lisney Agramonte prosecuted the case.
The crime happened on March 13, 2025. A man saw a box sitting on top of his mailbox and inside were the severed heads of two cats. The box was wet and smelled of gasoline. The Lee County Sheriff’s Office was called and began an investigation.
Deputies confirmed the defendant had been near the crime scene, using law enforcement intelligence, that placed the defendant’s van in the area on the morning of the crime. The homeowner and his wife had been threatened by the defendant for more than a year. Close to the time of the crime, a deputy saw the defendant at a nearby car wash scrubbing his van. Surveillance video from the car wash showed the defendant spent approximately three hours cleaning his van and also had a red gas can sitting on top of the van in part of the video.
The defendant was positively identified by the victim using a still image from the car wash video and his driver’s license photo. The defendant was then arrested as he sat parked in his van behind a closed business.
A search warrant was executed on the defendant’s van. Inside were multiple firearms, including two rifles and a shotgun, a safe containing two more firearms, a pellet gun, a machete, a saw blade, dark clothing, and two rolls of duct tape.
There was also a search warrant for the defendant’s phone, and a forensic download was completed by the Lee County Sheriff’s Office Digital Forensics Unit. Video on the phone showed the defendant the day prior, shooting two cats in the woods, and making graphic comments about the cats. The cats in the video matched the heads found in the box. A firearm in the video also matched one found in his van.
Samantha Syoen – State Attorney’s Office Communications Director