Target: Diane Couri, Macon County State’s Attorney, Illinois
Goal: Seek the maximum lawful sentence, a lifetime animal-ownership ban, and mandated counseling for the individual who allegedly strangled a cat and then attempted to burn the animal’s body.
Authorities responded to multiple calls describing a horrifying scene: a man strangling a cat, then later swinging the animal’s body through the air and trying to set the cat’s face on fire with a torch-style lighter. Responding officers say the animal showed visible external injuries and had a fabric tied around its neck, with the precise cause of death pending necropsy. According to local reports, the suspect also fought officers during the arrest. These details paint a deeply disturbing picture of cruelty that, if proven in court, warrants the strongest possible legal response.
Investigators further report that witnesses saw the cat being twirled overhead and that the attempted burning occurred despite police orders to stop. Such acts, as described, suggest deliberate, prolonged torment. Prosecutors have filed aggravated animal cruelty and related charges, and the case will move through the courts. When cruelty is this egregious, accountability must be clear and consequential to protect animals and deter future offenses.
Animal cruelty is closely linked to broader threats to community safety. A strong, well-publicized sentence in this case—if the allegations are proven—can send an unmistakable message that such violence will not be tolerated. Urge the State’s Attorney to pursue the maximum penalties allowed by law, seek a lifetime ban on animal ownership, require psychiatric evaluation and treatment, and obtain restitution for veterinary and investigative costs.
PETITION LETTER:
Dear State’s Attorney Couri,
We are writing regarding the case in which a cat was allegedly strangled, swung by its body, and then subjected to an attempted burning with a torch-style lighter. As reported, officers found the animal deceased with visible injuries and a fabric tied around its neck, and the suspect allegedly resisted arrest and struck an officer. These allegations describe extreme, intentional cruelty.
If the evidence presented in court substantiates these facts, we respectfully urge your office to seek the maximum lawful sentence. We also ask that you pursue a lifetime prohibition on owning, possessing, or residing with animals; restitution to cover veterinary and investigative expenses; and mandated psychological evaluation and treatment as conditions of any sentence or probation.
A decisive outcome in this case will help protect vulnerable animals and reinforce community safety. Thank you for prioritizing animal-cruelty prosecutions and for ensuring that, where proven, such actions carry meaningful consequences.
Sincerely,
[Your Name Here]
Photo credit: Krysten Merriman
Sounds like a future serial killer. Lock his ass up!
Take that insane human-like beast and set it on fire!
It must be removed from this earth.
Do the same to this man as he did to the cat!!
Ich stimme dir absolut zu.
I don’t think these monsters can be rehabilitated. I think they should be euthanized.
You CAN NOT rehabilitate EVIL. You need to DESTROY IT!!!!
Whatever the method they used to harm/kill the innocent animal. Should be USED ON THEM … EXECUTE THESE FUCKERS
You got that right, Martin…
Every perpetrator should be named not protected!
Justin S. Shadwell of Decatur IL. Hope you get all you deserve and then some. I’m pretty sure no one wants this miscreant walking free in the community.
Could no witnesses step in?
This sweet little angel cat suffered needlessly at the hands of Shadwell. Let’s see pay back which takes the same form back to him.
We need to start a vigilante group to ensure justice for these poor animals. These human wasting our earth’s precious resources should be taken out, one by one, in the exact method they killed or tortured an innocent animal.
This losers vile torture of an innocent animal along with the total disregard for following orders from law enforcement to put the animal down deserves even more serious charges he needs lock up for a very long time period he’s not mentally stable whatsoever and should not be out in public in our neighborhoods around our children or and other poor defenseless animal to slowly torture to death! What is happening to people we hear these horror stories that are getting more sick and twisted and way more frequent this has got to stop now! Im so sorry for what happened to you may you Rest in Peace sweet kitty 🙏🕊💞
The mans name is Justin S Shadwell, 41, of Decatur Illinois. Report him to ICE.
Lets report all the filth in these petitions to ICE so we can actually get rid of them. Let them be sent to a foreign death prison instead of gardeners and bus boys. Pass it on. Tell everyone so we can get rid of them.
Dont worry about their status. Ice doesnt care.
Agree all comments give him to the public to set I’m fire. These sirt of people should be executed no place on earth for them. Eye for a eye. Justice now .
Justin S Shadwell, 41, of Decatur, Illinois was arrested late October 2025 for doing this.
Report him to ICE.
Let him take the place of some gardner on the next flight to an El Salvador death prison.
Absolutely No TOLERANCE TOWARDS ANIMAL ABUSERS N CRUELTY. AN EYE FOR AN EYE FITS THIS CRIME N SHOULD BE THE PUNISHMENT. PAWS MATTER 🐾
Why did no-one attack this demon. I would have killed him where he stood. The cops go around shooting innocent people all the time yet let this maniac set fire to a cat. A town full of chicken shit cowards is what I see here. Shame on all of you, I hope you all rot in hell for not stepping up and saving this poor baby. These maniacs need to be stopped and the answer is simple, kill them and feed them into woodchippers.
Justin Shadwell needs to be removed from the gene pool – and society. Please do the job you were hired to do, Diane, and prosecute this POS to the fullest extent allowed under Illinois law! Please!