This was on our local newspaper's front page this morning..this happened about 10 miles from here...
Police: Landlord stabs dog Accused man says he acted in self defense
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A blanket, blood stains and a doghouse are part of the scene outside a Robbins Avenue home where a 13-month-old pit bull mix was found stabbed to death Monday evening.
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McKINLEY HEIGHTS — All that remains of Diamond, a 1-year-old pit bull/boxer mix, is an empty dog house, a blanket and a large pool of blood.
“Diamond was a sweet dog,” said Ashley Gore, who raised the dog from when the animal was 6 weeks old. “She was mischievous and goofy. But by no means was she a vicious dog.”
The animal was found stabbed to death Monday night, laying in a pool of blood. A phone caller to the Humane Society stated the dog had been beaten with a hammer before it died.
“From what we can tell, the dog has a large wound to the neck,” Trumbull County Humane Officer Paula Humphrey said, adding a necropsy will also be done to determine how the dog died.
Police reports have accused Gore’s landlord, Mark Trombitas, 44, of Poland, of stabbing the dog to death. Trombitas, however, told police he was acting in self-defense as the dog was attacking him.
Charges of killing or injuring an animal were originally filed in Niles Municipal Court by Niles police; however, it was determined Tuesday the home is in Weathersfield.
Police Chief Joseph Consiglio said Tuesday the Weathersfield police will be re-filing the charges in Niles court. Niles police officers will testify on behalf of the Weathersfield department, Consiglio said. He added Weathersfield may consider adding charges of animal cruelty.
Trombitas has been released on personal recognizance bond, police said.
The attack was originally reported to police by Gore’s roommate, Durrell Richardson, a police report states.
Gore said she stopped at her 2324 Robbins Ave. home at 5 p.m. to get some papers. Trombitas was there, she said, working in the garage. She looked back and saw her dog was in her enclosure, watching the man work.
“She knew him,” Gore said. “He was around a lot, working in the garage or the basement.”
She left a few minutes later, and came back at 6:40 p.m. She saw Trombitas standing in the yard, hands dripping in blood and with his pants soaked with blood from the knees down, police reports said.
“It looked like he’d been kneeling on the ground and been attacking my dog,” Gore said. “I asked him what happened and he said she’d attacked.”
A large pool of blood is frozen on the ground next to the dog’s house, sheltered in a walled-in breezeway fronted by a gate. The gate was found broken down inside the enclosure, Gore said.
“I couldn’t even look at her,” Gore said Tuesday afternoon. “I didn’t come back until the animal control came to take her away.”
Court records show Niles police took as evidence a folding knife smeared with blood and animal hairs, a wooden-handled hammer smeared with blood and animal hairs and a pair of blue jeans stained with blood and hairs.
Also taken were two notes Trombitas had written about the dog’s feces, police reports show.
At the police station,
Trombitas was checked for injuries. No marks, cuts or scratches were found, police said.
Humphrey said Diamond seemed to be a healthy young dog, with good coat condition and with a good weight. Her ears were intact, the humane officer said, indicating the animal had never been used in dog fighting.
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note from me..I hestitated about posting this..nobody likes to hear about stuff like that..but the reality is..we ARE a pet forum and we CARE about animals..and this brings attention to the need for stiffer penalties, etc. for the depraved people who do things like this...) 