Dog mutilated Mantua, OH (US) Incident Date: Saturday, Mar 25, 2000 County: Portage Local Map: available Disposition: Alleged Alleged: » 12 year old » 13 year old » 13 year old » 14 year old

Case ID: 3316 Classification: Shooting, Mutilation/Torture Animal: dog (non pit-bull) View more cases in OH (US) Login to Watch this Case

Three of four Crestwood Middle School students implicated in the killing and mutilation of a dog last month showed little remorse when questioned by deputies, Portage County Sheriff Duane Kaley said.

The three youths confessed, he said. The fourth youth was unavilable for questioning because he was out of town.

Authorities said the dog - likely a Labrador-retriever mix - had been tied to a tree in the woods before a 14-year old suspect shot it in the head, Kaley said. The youths returned, either the next day or within a few days, and moved the dog's body to an area off an access road to an oil and natural gas well, on a property with an old swimming pool formerly used for recreation.

A nearby resident, Margery Cleary, whose children -ages 8, 10, and 12 - found the large, black dog hanging from a pipe inside an old pump house for the swimming pool on March 25, said she no longer lets them go there.

"It's scary - right in your back yard," Cleary said yesterday. "If they can make that split (-second) decision to kill something, what if your kid is walking back in the woods?"

Cleary said that when her children found the dog, it also had been stabbed and there was a piece of wood protruding from its chest.

The youths decided to hang the body from the ceiling of the pump house, aparently to frighten others who go up there to party, Kaley said.

Three of the youths said they decided to kill the dog when they saw it running loose near one of their homes of state Route 44. The suspects are a 12-year, two 13-year olds and a 14-year old.

Deputy Danny Burns questioned the youths yesterday while following up to a tip that they had been involved in the animal's death.

"He (Burns) said they didn't seem remorseful," Kaley said. "They didn't seem too concerned about it."

After first seeing the dog, according to Kaley, one of the youths got a shotgun and a piece of rope from his home. He said the youths caught the dog and led it into a wooded area, Kaley said.

After killing the dog, the youths left his body tied to the tree, Kaley said.

Deputies were to charge the youths with delinquency by reason of cruelty to animals, Kaley said.

"You have to wonder how somebody could do this," Kaley said. "It's the kind of act that worries us because if they don't get into the system and get help they could go on to something more serious.

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References

Akron Beacon Journal - April 11, 2000

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