Dog dragged to death behind vehicle
Centralia, WA (US)

Incident Date: Friday, Mar 27, 2009
County: Lewis

Disposition: Open

Suspect(s) Unknown - We need your help!

Police are investigating a horrible case of animal abuse in Lewis County.

Officers say a dog was dragged to its death - tied to the back of a car and then dumped in a parking lot.

The dog's badly mangled corpse was found in a parking lot outside a Goodwill store in the heart of Centralia, off a busy main road.

Employees who arrived early for work on Friday found the dog's remains and called police.

Officers said the animal had apparently been dragged through the parking lot, tied to the back of a moving car.

"When we get there, the dog has a rope around its neck," says Kurt Reichert of the Centralia police. "It's got obvious drag marks. Indications from the injuries (show) that it was alive when it was drug."

Police say there's a slight possibility that this was an accident, but it certainly appears that it was intentional.

"I would have to say they were kind of deranged - very inhumane," says Jackie Fisher, a Centralia visitor.

With no identification or tags, it's going to be tough to figure out who owned the dog.

Whether it was a prank gone bad, a malicious act or something else - people wonder what kind of person could do this to a defenseless animal. And if they could do this to a dog, what else are they capable of?

"I don't think that anybody in their right mind could do that to an animal," says dog owner Joanne Blackburn. But if they could, she adds, "certainly they could do that to a human."

Police don't necessarily disagree with that. But the first step is arresting the culprit responsible for this animal cruelty.

"It's a criminal act," said Reichert. "And anytime someone gets away with a criminal act, it has a tendancy to make them think they can get away with the next one, regardless of the hierarchy of crime. It's a cowardly thing to do."

Centralia police are now leaning on the public for help in this case, hoping someone out there saw something or knows something about the death of this dog.

References

• KVAL - March 28, 2009

« WA State Animal Cruelty Map
« More cases in Lewis County, WA

Note: Classifications and other fields should not be used to determine what specific charges the suspect is facing or was convicted of - they are for research and statistical purposes only. The case report and subsequent updates outline the specific charges. Charges referenced in the original case report may be modified throughout the course of the investigation or trial, so case updates, when available, should always be considered the most accurate reflection of charges.

For more information regarding classifications and usage of this database, please visit the database notes and disclaimer.