THE PYTHON DID IT:
In a reptilian whodunnit, a Boa Constrictor was initially blamed for the strangulation deaths this weekend of two small boys 5 and 7 from New Brunswick Canada.
Now, however, investigators say it wasn't the Boa Constrictor after all, but rather a 15-foot African Rock Python weighing in at about 100 pounds.
The enormous New Brunswick snake is believed to have escaped its cage on a first-floor pet shop just below a room where the two brothers where sleeping, then traveled upstairs through ventilation ducts to find and strangle them.
The boys were guests of the owner of the exotic pet store, a business which was once the subject of a public petition to close the joint down, allegedly for animal mistreatment.
Although the exonerated Boa Constrictor, wrongly charged with murder, is oblivious of his own near brush with fate, the Python perp is presently incarcerated and destined to be euthanized, sources say.
Rogue reptiles like the New Brunswick snake are quite rare, experts are quick to point out today, and it's extremely unusual even for big predators like a Boa Constrictor or an African Rock Python to hunt and attack humans, let alone commit a double homicide.
They're theorizing that, for some bizarre reason, this supposed monstrous murderer mistook the two youngsters for food, despite some evidence that it didn't actually attempt to eat them...
What do you think? Maybe Mr. Python is being falsely accused too?
UPDATE: It appears the store owner may have lied in initial reports, telling police the Python was locked in the pet store and had broken through the ceiling of the boys' room after scaling ventilation ducts.
ReplyDeleteIn fact, today he admits it was kept in his apartment above the store. Very near the room where the two young brothers were unwittingly sleeping.
The snake has been euthanized, as promised. Its owner was a close friend of the victims' father and is said to be cooperating with investigators.
E.R.
NOTE: Today's updates for this case were too extensive for simply reporting them in a comment here. So they've been published in a new post article -- just click on my name in this comment to read the latest developments in POLICE PROBE PYTHON DOUBLE MURDER MYSTERY.
ReplyDeleteE.R.
The owner didn't lie - the press did. You could visit the shop and see all the reptiles - it was all out in the open. The shop owner no longer allowed people to the second floor (in his apartment) to see the snake that was kept in a special enclosure.
ReplyDelete