Cannabis church leader Bill Levin's pet peacock brutally killed

First Church of Cannabis founder Bill Levin is mourning the grisly death of his 13-year-old pet peacock, Bert, who Levin said was murdered.

Levin suspects that a neighbor was involved in Bert's Aug. 23 killing as well as the unexpected death of one of his goats four months earlier.

"I was in straight-up shock," the charismatic church leader said. "I didn't start crying until about eight hours later. I was just in stone-cold shock. Since then I've been waking up in cold sweats and bad dreams. Anxiety, stress."

Levin has four cats, four goats, two ducks, a dozen or so chickens and a cockatoo on his north-side property in the 3600 block of Birchwood Ave, where he has lived for about five years.

He came home the night of Bert's death to find his roommate walking down the street while holding peacock feathers.

"I thought, 'Oh nice, she got last year's harvest.'"

But she was crying.

Levin said he then saw Bert's lifeless, mostly featherless and beaten body under a bush.

"Bert's dead, and he's separated from his feathers," he said. "The way I found his body, it looks like somebody stood on his rib cage and pulled his feathers out. They then took Bert, swung him by the tail, hit his head on the pavement. There was a gravel beating on one side of his face."

Levin says he has ruled out a dog or another type of animal attack.

"There's no blood on his feathers," he said. "There was no blood, no puncture wound. There would be blood everywhere."

Bert was found with only two feathers, where a full fan of jewel-colored plumage once was.

"I know what kind of strength it takes to pull out a handful of peacock feathers," he said. "That takes a lot of muscle. I don't even think I could do it."

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Levin said he contacted a friend in the Marion County prosecutor's office but didn't hear back. He buried Bert in his front yard. He filed a police report Tuesday after another friend in law enforcement urged him to do so.

"We're hoping we'll get a detective assigned to the case," Levin said. 

An Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department spokesman said the animal cruelty investigation is ongoing. Levin told police he believes Bert's death was caused by someone in the neighborhood because of ongoing issues.

Levin said he got along well with all of his neighbors until he began the First Church of Cannabis in 2015. The church was created to test the limits of Indiana's Religious Freedom Restoration Act, which took effect the day of the first service.

"All of a sudden some of the people in the neighborhood decided they didn't like me because I didn't have a church of Jesus," he said. "A couple of the neighbors stopped talking to me."

Four months ago, Levin found his goat, Daisy, dead on his doorstep. The healthy 2-year-old had given birth less than a week earlier, he said.

"She was there dead, and I just started to cry," he said. 

Levin believes she was poisoned, so he contacted Indianapolis Animal Care Services about her death. Officials from the prosecutor's office came to investigate, he said.

This time he is hoping IMPD will find out what happened to his beloved peacock.

"There are people out there who just don't like animals, and I cannot relate to hate," he said. "Loathing I can get. I have had loathing in my heart, and I've been fighting it in the last week."

Call IndyStar reporter Amy Bartner at (317) 444-6752. Follow her on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.