Fredericton family hit by bizarre vandalism, burning raccoon

Last Updated: Friday, November 21, 2008 | 6:06 PM AT Comments24Recommend51

CBC News

Bill Richardson looks at his barbeque that was the site of a gruesome act of vandalism on Wednesday. (CBC)

Fredericton police are asking for the public's help in investigating a strange incident of vandalism that involved the carcasses of two raccoons.

The case is apparently more bizarre than police are saying publicly. At about 5:30 a.m. on Wednesday, a homeowner on Bessborough Street in the city's southside noticed a flickering light coming from the backyard.

When he investigated, he found his barbecue was turned on full blast and inside the body of a raccoon was roasting on the grill.

The Fredericton fire department extinguished the fire.

But the case got more troubling for the homeowners when they discovered another dead and mangled raccoon arrayed on the hood of the car in the driveway.

Someone had also spray-painted the car with disturbing words and symbols.

The homeowners were visibly shaken up by what happened and say they took photographs of the graphic scene left on their car and barbecue.

Bill Richards said in an interview on Friday that he's still troubled by the images from that morning.

"What was going through my mind was that this has to be a nightmare because it's something you might think of in a horror movie and think, 'No maybe I'm going to wake up and realize this isn't, this isn't this is only a dream, that it isn't reality,'" Richards said.

"But so it's really hard to grapple with something like that because it's so much outside the usual experience of people."

He and his family have hardly slept since it happened.

The family was first told by police officers from the city's major crimes unit advised them not to talk to the media about what happened.

The Fredericton police are asking the public to forward any tips to them or to Crimestoppers.