22 dead rabbits found on east-side Wichita driveways (+video)

Jacob Hilton, a deputy U.S. marshal, woke up Wednesday morning to find a dead rabbit on the driveway of his east-side home. He didn’t think much of it.

But that’s before he realized it was among 22 dead rabbits individually placed on each driveway along his block of Timberon Lane. He thinks the incident was targeted at his neighborhood.

“To take the time to kill 22 rabbits and take them to our street and lay them out,” he said. “It’s pretty weird.”

Wichita police said Wednesday they don’t have much information about the strange incident in the 7000 block of Timberon Lane, near 13th and Woodlawn. They are asking anyone with tips about the incident call police at 316-350-3360.

Wichita police Lt. James Espinoza said Wichita Animal Control is in charge of investigating the case, but said Lt. Steve Kenney, who oversees animal control, was out of the office Wednesday.

“Definitely a case that I haven’t seen,” Espinoza said.

Police think the incident occurred early Wednesday morning and that the rabbits were wild. They resembled white-tail rabbits typical in Kansas with speckled gray and brown fur.

Police originally said the rabbits might have been shot, but it remains unclear how the animals died.

The opinions of neighbors were mixed.

The neighborhood, called Rockhurst, is peaceful with well-kept homes built in the 1970s and mature trees. The residents on Timberon said they know one another well, throw block parties periodically, and have a neighborhood watch with phone numbers for everyone on the street. The neighborhood is not subject to much crime.

Hilton went outside around 6:30 a.m. Wednesday and saw the dead rabbit in his driveway. He said he got a grocery sack, picked up the rabbit and threw it in his trash bin.

He said the rabbit’s body wasn’t bloody or damaged, and thought it was strange that the rabbit already was stiff from rigor mortis if it had died during the night.

But he said he didn’t think too much of it because so many rabbits live in the Rockhurst neighborhood.

When Hilton then left for work around 7:20 a.m., he said he saw a police officer and asked what was going on. When the officer told him about the rabbit situation, he said he told the officer he put one in his trash and that they were welcome to take it for evidence.

Espinoza said officers collected the dead rabbits as part of the investigation.

Hilton said about half the rabbits lined the driveways by the time he left for work. He said the rabbits looked positioned, not strewn about as if they were thrown out the window of a vehicle.

“Someone had to shoot 22 rabbits somewhere else, collect all the rabbits up, bring them to that location, and not just throw them, but put them in everyone’s driveway,” he said. “I don’t get it.”

Hilton said he doesn’t think the rabbit killer is anyone who lives on the street. He said he’s not concerned about safety in the neighborhood, but said he would be more vigilant with strangers in the area.

“If there’s someone I don’t recognize, I’m going to question them about what they’re doing on my street,” he said.

Across the street, Todd Kelley, who lives with his parents, said he saw the dead rabbit in his driveway around 6 a.m. Wednesday, but didn’t think to look around the rest of the block. He said the rabbit looked positioned because it was perfectly centered in the driveway with its body vertically lined with the crack in the cement.

Kelley said he thinks the culprit was a teenager and thought the “prank” might be tied to Halloween.

“I hope they get caught,” he said. “They need to be caught.”

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This story was originally published October 21, 2015 at 12:05 PM with the headline "22 dead rabbits found on east-side Wichita driveways (+video)."