Teen Tied Family Dog to Tree Before Slicing, Killing With Sword: Deputies
A teenage boy from Florida has been arrested for allegedly tying his family's dog to a tree before killing it with a sword.
The 17-year-old boy's mother and stepfather called the Lake County Sheriff's Office on Sunday to report that their son allegedly admitted to killing their family dog, a retriever mix, according to the Orlando Sentinel.
On Monday, Deputy David Evans responded to the home in Clermont, according to the Sentinel.
The boy's stepfather reportedly showed investigators where he believed the dog went missing on Sunday. But after searching for a few minutes, he found the dog's body was lying on the ground in a wooded area near their home, WOFL-TV, an Orlando-based television news station, reported Tuesday.
Investigators said the dog appeared to have been tied up to a tree and suffered from multiple stab wounds, cuts and was missing part of its face, WOFL reported.
The teenager allegedly confessed to deputies inside the home that he killed the dog and placed its body in the woods, according to WOFL. A "sword style blade" was allegedly found in his room with dried blood and what authorities believe could be animal hair on it.
"The body of the dog showed it [to] be a very inhumane and cruel death," an arrest warrant obtained by WOFL reportedly read.
Both his mother and stepfather wanted him to be prosecuted, according to WOFL. They told detectives the boy allegedly has a history of violence and that they feared for their safety, as well as that of other children and animals in the home.
The boy, who has not been identified because he is a minor, was taken into custody at the Lake County jail, according to WOFL.
He faces a third-degree felony charge of aggravated animal cruelty, according to the Sentinel.
Clermont is a city of about 43,000 people located about 25 miles west of Orlando, according to U.S. Census data.
Several other people have been arrested this year for allegedly abusing animals. A veterinarian from Florida was arrested was sentenced in October to more than 22 years in prison for sexually abusing animals, among other charges.
In July, a man from Cambridge, Massachusetts was arrested on four counts of animal cruelty for cats. He was accused of harming and killing several cats beginning as early as May when a cat was found underneath a car with masking tape binding its hind legs. His search history included inquiries such as "Will Clorox burn a cat"; "How to lure neighborhood cats"; "Blowing weed smoke in a cat's face"; "Cat cruelty video clips"; and "Desire to harm cats in adulthood."
