Chicago woman fighting to get back dead cat after it was flung onto neighbor's roof

A McKinley Park woman who lost her cat in January said he's been sitting dead for weeks on top of her neighbor's roof, and she hasn't been able to get him back.

Jadine Wambaja shared surveillance video footage showing a cat somehow landing on her neighbor's roof. She believes it's her cat, Scarface.

"He was flung like he was garbage up on the roof," Jadine Wambaja said. "In the video, you see the cat tossed up, and seconds later, if you look at the man's back door, you could see someone walk inside."

Wambaja said Scarface turned 1 year old on Jan. 1, and she believes he died on Feb. 2.

"He was definitely a wild animal, but he was not an outside cat. That's kind of how I knew something was wrong when he didn't come home that day," she said.

Another neighbor spotted the cat and sent a photo to a local lost and found pets Facebook group.

"Pets are considered property, and she has a right to retrieve her property. This is theft now. At least this is how I'm looking at it now," Sabrina Basquez said.

Basquez is an administrator of that Facebook group, who also lives nearby.

"When she sent me the picture, I knew right away it was him. He had the same spots, his little rat face. I just knew it was him," Wambaja said.

Wambaja lives just a few doors down, and she said every morning she wakes up and has to see her dead cat on her neighbor's roof.

"It's going to get warm out. It's going to start stinking. No one wants to smell him," she said.

Wamjaba has called police and contacted Ald. Nicole Lee (11th).

Lee's office said they're trying to find a solution, but the city has not been able to gain access to the neighbor's home.

"The situation is very concerning, and my staff and I have been in touch with the impacted resident as well as our local CPD 9th District commander and Chicago Animal Care and Control to identify a legal path forward. We are committed to making sure every resident of the 11th Ward can feel safe, and that no one feels targeted or harassed," Lee said in a statement.

The man who lives there didn't answer calls or emails. CBS News Chicago is not identify him, because he hasn't been charged with a crime.

"He has not answered us. We've spoken into his cameras. It's like a fortress. I mean, he's got cameras, he has sirens in the back, in the front," Basquez said.

Both women just want to say goodbye to Scarface on their terms.

"I just want my belongings, but he's not even willing to do that," Wambaja said.