Two dogs stabbed, one dies
Sonoma, CA (US)

Incident Date: Monday, Aug 1, 2005
County: Sonoma

Disposition: Open

Suspect(s) Unknown - We need your help!

What started out as an average day for a Sonoma woman turned into a nightmare when she returned from a shopping trip to find that someone had snuck into her yard and brutally stabbed and killed one of her dogs and left another for dead.

Jeanette Teves returned to her home at 589 Este Madera Drive at 2 p.m. Monday to find that someone had stabbed her 1-year-old pug, Lucy, to death, while her 2-year old Boston terrier, Roxy, was suffering from a similar injury to her chest.

The slaying occurred during a small window of time between 1:15 and 2 p.m., Teves said. She left her home at 1:15 p.m. to pick up a birthday gift and card for her husband and had put her dogs inside the house before she left.

The back door to the home was unlocked and the alarm system off, Teves said, because she was expecting workers to show up and didn't know when they would arrive. There is no dog door in the home, so the suspect is believed to have let the dogs out into the yard, where they were stabbed.

The shopping trip was supposed to be short, but lasted a little longer than expected only because she was searching for a birthday card for her husband with a picture of a Boston terrier and a pug on them - dogs the same breed as hers.

According to Sonoma police Sgt. Bret Sackett, a veterinarian has determined that someone used a knife with a one-inch-wide blade that was at least seven inches long.

The crime doesn't appear to have been a burglary, Sackett said, as nothing was taken from the home.

The crime does not appear to be random either, Teves said, because the following day a pile of dog food laced with rat poison was found hidden in bushes in the back yard. It doesn't appear to have been thrown over the fence and was at least 15 feet from the yard's gate.

The slaying has stunned neighbors of the otherwise peaceful east Sonoma neighborhood.

"It makes me feel really insecure," said Carol Bonnoitt. "You think that you live in a neighborhood where there are civilized people."

Bonnoitt said that she hadn't noticed anything out of the ordinary in the neighborhood and wasn't aware that the slaying occurred until a neighbor, George Farnsworth, told her.

Farnsworth said he didn't know what happened to the Teves dogs at first but thought that maybe one had died.

"I saw her in the front yard holding her dog and screaming," Farnsworth said. "I thought maybe the little thing had gotten into the pool."

It wasn't until Teves' daughter visited later in the evening that he found out about the attack.

Now, Farnsworth said, he and his wife are locking their doors - something they've never before felt they needed to do.

"It's upsetting to me," said Farnsworth. "It certainly has everyone concerned."

While the hours prior to the attack seemed uneventful, there was one thing out of the ordinary - a pair of phone calls to Teves originating from pay phones.

Shortly before she left to go into town, Teves said that a man with a youngish voice called and asked to speak to a woman. The caller ID on the phone identified the number as a pay phone.

Teves said she couldn't remember the name of the woman the man asked for, but thinks it was Gwen.

While she was shopping, someone again called from a pay phone, but left no message on her answering machine.

Teves and her husband later tracked the location of the phones down and found that the first call was from the Shell Station on Broadway.

The second call, Teves said, was made from the Union 76 gas station at the corner of Broadway and West MacArthur Street, just a few blocks to the south of the Shell station.

Police are in the process of obtaining the security tapes from one of the gas stations, Sackett said.

Teves said she still feels violated and is learning how to deal with her mood swings. She feels both anger and grief.

"Up until last night I wanted to move," Teves said. "Right now, I think I'll stay here a while."

Although the investigation is continuing at the local level, the case has also been forwarded to the Sonoma County Sheriff's Department Property Crimes Division for review and possible investigation.

"We are persuing a couple of angles right now," Sackett said. "But our big plea to the general community is to please come forward with any information you may have."

References

• - Aug 4, 2005
• « CA State Animal Cruelty Map

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