On a Monday night in early March, Robert Balog and a friend made the hour-and-a-half drive from Van Nuys to Oxnard to meet an elusive man in a Best Buy parking lot. The man, 35-year-old Anthony Nuñez Jr. of Oxnard, emerged from an old-model red Ford Ranger and handed Balog a thick black bag. Inside were the decaying remains of Balog’s beloved pet, a short-hair American tabby cat named Stewie. Balog drove Stewie home, rolling down the windows to dampen the smell that began to fill the car. He was... Read this story
