HAMILTON — Butler County Sheriff Richard K. Jones, Prosecutor Robin Piper and state Rep. Courtney Combs have vowed to catch the person responsible for a dog found skinned in the woods of St. Clair Twp. last week and to increase penalties for animal cruelty. The county animal control department and sheriff's office deputies served search warrants in the case at an undisclosed location and expect to be able to use DNA technology to find the dog's killer. The sheriff said detectives have identified a person of interest in the case.
The remains of the dog — believed to be a 2-year-old dark brown male chow/pit bull mix — were found a week ago along Four Mile Creek Road near Eaton Road in St. Clair Twp.
A veterinarian who performed an autopsy said it revealed that the 35- to 40-pound dog was boiled alive in either oil or water and then skinned.
"This animal was skinned while still alive," Piper said, calling the culprits "pure evil."
Combs also proposed changing state law to classify animal cruelty as a felony instead of a misdemeanor. He said he is moving quickly to introduce a law increasing the penalty for those who intentionally harm animals.
"We will not stand for this in Butler County," said Combs, who, following research of the law by Piper, would "craft legislation as soon as possible."
Currently the maximum penalty for anyone convicted of animal cruelty is 6 months in jail.
Piper said animal torture is linked to domestic violence, sexual abuse and is an early sign of a person disturbed enough to commit crimes against humans.
"Seventy-one percent of domestic violence cases have involved pet abuse," Piper said.
Many notorious killers, including Ted Bundy and Jeffrey Dahmer, admitted to torturing animals before moving to killing many victims.
Piper said an arrest may be "taking a train off the track."
Vickey Steier, the county's chief animal control officer, said often future violent offenders use animals as a "training ground."
Steier said investigators have received some good leads, "but we need more. Anyone who may have seen anything, no matter how small they think it might be, that call may lead us in the right direction."
Jones said the culprit will be found.
"Six months is at least a good start, at least in my jail," the sheriff said.
Reward money leading to the conviction of those responsible has increased to $10,000, according to Piper. The sheriff's office and prosecutor's office each have donated $1,500, while other organizations and private citizens have contributed to the fund.
Anyone with information is asked to call Steier at (513) 200-6621.
