The Grand Prairie cobra escaped one year ago, it still has not been spotted
GRAND PRAIRIE, Texas - A West African Banded cobra escaped from its home in Grand Prairie on August 3, 2021. It was never seen again.
The escape of the dangerous venomous snake from the home on Cherry Street sparked a firestorm of attention from the community.
A Twitter account made by someone claiming to be the snake celebrated the occasion on Wednesday.
The snake's owner, 23-year-old Lawrence Matl, was arrested in February of this year.
Court records show the owner of the cobra kept the snake in a homemade cage without locks and had other venomous snakes inside his home.
According to Matl's arrest warrant, the homemade cage he kept his West African Banded Cobra in was only made out of plywood and Plexi-glass. He’s charged with intentionally or recklessly allowing a snake to be released from captivity.
An arrest warrant affidavit obtained by FOX4 reveals Matl had not one, but three pet snakes in his home.
In addition to the female cobra that escaped, he also had a male West Banded African cobra, along with a pit viper. Both were confiscated with the help of a wildlife removal company.
According to the affidavit, Matl told detectives he had a two-prong locking system on the enclosure, but after reviewing body camera footage, investigators said there was no lock, just a sliding piece of plexiglass.
Back in 2021, Matl explained it to FOX4 as "a mishap the snake’s in-home enclosure."
"If we would have just had a lock on the cage," he said
[PHOTOGRAPHER: "There wasn’t a lock?"]
"There wasn’t a lock, and it could have been simply handled," he responded.
The affidavit said Matl told the officer he had just fed the snake and then walked out of the room for 15 minutes.
When he returned, the snake was not in its cage.
Matl expressed remorse back in August of last year.
"I feel very bad for the community and everything. For the fears that they have to go through," he said.
RELATED: Grand Prairie missing cobra's owner arrested
Initially, Grand Prairie told FOX4 that Matl did have a license to own the snake, but a city ordinance prohibits owning wild animals and constrictor-type snakes within the city limits.