In a case recalling the movie "The Godfather," police in Idaho said Friday they are investigating who left the severed heads of large animals and a gutted bunny on a family's front porch.
The incidents over the last two months are alarming parents and frightening children in a family of seven, they said.
"It's real mean," Idaho Falls Police Capt. Mark McBride said. "The kids are certainly scared."
The grisly doorstep deliveries began two months ago with the severed head of an elk, followed a month ago by an eviscerated rabbit.
In the early hours of New Year's Day, the family discovered the head of a mule deer on their porch and informed police.
In "The Godfather" a bloodied horse head turns up in a movie mogul's bed, and in "Fatal Attraction" a spurned lover boils a bunny to death.
"We have not seen a case like it," said McBride. "At this time, we have no suspects, but there were footprints in the snow and we're now working with that and other clues."
Authorities say news of the macabre occurrences has cast a pall on Idaho Falls, the largest city in eastern Idaho, with a population of 54,000, and a business hub for surrounding farm communities.
McBride said it is unclear if the remains of mutilated animals are aimed at the adults in the household or the children, with the eldest age 13.