Puppy mutilated, beheaded, dismembered Longmont, CO (US) Incident Date: Monday, Nov 13, 2006 County: Boulder Local Map: available Disposition: Open Suspect(s) Unknown - We need your help! Case Updates: 1 update(s) available

Case ID: 10190 Classification: Mutilation/Torture Animal: dog (non pit-bull) View more cases in CO (US) Reward: $2,500 Login to Watch this Case

Police are hunting for someone who took a pit bull puppy from its pen, butchered the animal and dumped the remains in the owner's yard.

Clarissa Garcia, who lives at 126 Forsyth Drive, called police after her brother went to the back yard at 10 a.m. Nov. 13 to feed the family�s three pit bulls and found the body of the youngest dog missing its head, police said.

The killer removed 4-month-old Copper�s head, spine, several ribs, shoulders, upper leg bones on the front legs, heart and lungs, police said. Investigators found small pools of blood and bone fragments in the back yard.

Garcia, 16, said she doesn�t know anyone who bears a grudge against a family member.

�You know how there are people out there who are just into the devil? It was probably one of those people,� she said.

A veterinarian who examined the puppy�s gutted body said the killer apparently hung Copper by his back legs and gutted him in a method typically used for butchering goats, police said.

Investigators believe the killer stole the puppy from the property the morning of Nov. 13 and slaughtered him somewhere else.

A neighbor told police the puppy had been running around the pen about five hours before Garcia�s brother found Copper�s body.

Strangely, the other two dogs always bark at strangers but didn�t bark that morning, Garcia said.

A day later, Garcia called police after finding the puppy�s face and jawbone in the back yard. Most of the puppy�s head remains missing, police said.

Police have few leads on the case but don�t think it was a ritual killing, animal-control Officer Tammy Deitz said, adding that officers see little such cult activity in Longmont.

Officers visited the home several times in recent years when neighbors complained about the other pit bulls� being loose, Deitz said, but police do not think the puppy�s killing was retaliatory. People who kill animals over a grudge rarely expend the effort required to systematically mutilate them.

If police find a suspect in the crime, that person will likely face felony animal-cruelty charges, she said.

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References

	LongmontFYI - Nov 25, 2006
	CBS4Denver - Nov 26, 2006

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