Skip to main contentThe Rogue Desk has been grappling with a grisly riddle: Why would a man tear the throat out of a living rabbit with his teeth? In the case of Darcy Lee Olson, the answer is shockingly stupid: publicity.
Olson, a 34-year-old Southeast Portland resident, had bought a rabbit for his boa constrictor, but the snake wouldn't eat it. That's when he came up with his not-so-bright idea: use the rabbit to spice up his stage persona, "Heathen," which he adopted for Superhero Action Show, a Satyricon-based pseudo-wrestling production formerly called Portland Organic Wrestling. After drinking heavily, he persuaded his housemate, Angela Lyn Moss, 24, to take promotional photos of him savaging the bunny.
Unfortunately, the reality was more gruesome than Moss had bargained for.
"The rabbit squealed in agony as Olson decapitated it for [Moss'] camera," according to a court affidavit. "Olson is pictured while rubbing rabbit blood on his genitalia and stuffing the headless body of the rabbit in his pants."
Not surprisingly, Olson thought better of his idea when the horror of what he'd done sank in. But months later, when Moss turned in her roll of film to be developed, a conscientious Fuji film employee alerted the police. As a result, the Multnomah County District Attorney's office is prosecuting Olson and Moss with two counts each of aggravated animal abuse. Both of them, who have a Sept. 5 court date, pleaded not guilty. But in Olson's case, at least, the pictures tell the tale.
WWeek 2015