Dog dismembered, left outside home
Philadelphia, PA (US)Incident Date: Monday, Oct 25, 2010
County: Philadelphia
Disposition: Open
Suspect(s) Unknown - We need your help!
Case Updates: 1 update(s) available
The reward in the case of the dog found cut in half in Northeast Philadelphia was raised to $2,000, the Pennsylvania SPCA announced Tuesday afternoon.
Tips can be made to the PSPCA's anti-cruelty hotline at 866-601-SPCA (7722), said Marc Peralta, the agency's chief operating officer.
"We're anticipating that we'll get to the bottom of this soon," Peralta said earlier in the day. Multiple leads were being checked out, he said.
Results of a necropsy should reveal what happened to the husky, whose severed upper body - head and front paws - was found yesterday afternoon on the back porch of a home in the 200 block of Byberry Road.
Reports that a saw was used to cut the dog in half were unconfirmed, he said. The necropsy should show if the dog was alive when it was cut.
"I've never seen anything like this," Peralta said. "Maybe in a movie - The Godfather - never in real life."
The husky's owner is not a suspect, according to an agency news release.
"It's terrible," Peralta said. "The animal was owned and loved, and the owners were obviously crushed."
The dog - reportedly a 3-year-old named Chico - ran away Sunday night from its home, about three miles from where it was found.
Peralta declined to say if the suspects were adults or teenagers, but did say they were from the area.
Sherri Verdon, who found the remains, told reporters for two TV stations that she suspects an ex-neighbor who had harassed her, once even throwing motor oil at her house. If you have information on this case, please contact:
PSPCA's anti-cruelty hotline
[email protected]
866-601-SPCA (7722)
Case UpdatesThe SPCA discovered the second half of the severed body of a Husky dog that was left on a Philadelphia porch Monday.
The body parts were found along side the railroad tracks at Bustleton and Haldeman Avenues, officials announced Thursday.
"It is believed that the dog was either deceased or unconscious at the time it was placed upon the tracks to be struck by the train," according to the Pennsylvania SPCA.
Authorities were hoping that someone may have seen a person or persons transporting the dog's body to or from the tracks between Saturday night and Monday morning.
The upper half of the dog's body was discovered by Sherri Verdon on the back porch of her Somerton-section home Monday afternoon.
"It's just frightening, it's creepy," she said.
It also devastated the owners of three-year-old Chico.
"Why my dog, why," said an emotional Gabriella Ovadia.
Chico disappeared from the Ovadia's family home -- which isn't close to Verdon's home -- over the weekend. On Monday the family identified their beloved pet dog at the SPCA.
"It was horrible -- the mutilation," Ovadia said.
"The dog was literally cut in half," Pennsylvania SPCA spokesman George Bengal said.
The horrific image of a severed dog was also something Verdon couldn't get out of her mind.
"I just became hysterical crying," she said about the gruesome discovery. "It was just very disturbing."
Verdon says that the same man who vandalized her home nearly a half-dozen times recently could also be responsible for this gruesome act of animal cruelty.
The SPCA confirmed Tuesday that they questioned a person of interest but it wasn't clear if it's the same man. They were also hunting for a second person who could possibly be responsible for killing and dumping Chico, according to the SPCA.
The reward fund for information leading to Chico's killing was up to $4,000. Anyone with information should contact the PSPCA website or call their anti-cruelty hotline at 866.601.SPCA (7722). | Source: nbcphiladelphia.com - Oct 28, 2010
Update posted on Oct 30, 2010 - 12:00AM |
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