Police Say a Serial Cat Killer Was on the Loose. They Arrested Man After Allegedly Finding Evidence in Home

A California man was arrested Wednesday amid allegations that he killed more than a dozen cats at his Santa Ana, Calif., home over the last several weeks, police say.

Alejandro Acosta Oliveros was taken into custody after investigators found evidence of the killings at his home and he was identified by a number of witnesses, according to a social media post from the Santa Ana Police Department.

The police post also included a nighttime video that it says showed Oliveros, 45, luring a cat and “harming” it behind a row of parked cars along the street.

“Over several weeks, the Santa Ana Police Department received multiple disturbing reports involving the suspected abuse and killing of cats in a local neighborhood,” police said. “The reports alleged that a man had been luring neighborhood cats to and around his property, where he then harmed or killed them.”

KCAL reported that investigators found evidence of dozens of cats inside Oliveros’ Santa Ana home. He allegedly confessed to abducting and then killing the cats, KTLA reported, citing police.

Santa Ana Jail records reviewed by PEOPLE show that Oliveros was released Thursday morning, one day after police said he was booked “on felony charges related to animal cruelty.”

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Santa Ana police said the reports about Oliveros’ alleged abductions and abuse dated back two years, according to Fox 11. One neighbor told the outlet they found their cat hanging from a tree after it went missing.

“I saw this same man grab her neighbor’s cat, inject it with a needle and some sort of substance,” one neighbor told the outlet. “And she saw him and she yelled, ‘hey’ at him to get his attention. He got up and ran, jumped in his truck and left. And from what we know that cat died, and the owner went and put in a police report.”

Another neighbor, Eva Corlew, told KCAL that she caught Oliveros on camera stealing her cat. After she posted about her cat’s mysterious disappearance on a neighborhood social media page, Corlew told the outlet that others soon came forward with their own stories about Oliveros.

“I feel a little scared that this person is out there stealing multiple cats, not just mine, and doing God knows what with them,” Corlew said.