Reward grows to find person who beheaded Kansas police officer’s puppy

Reward money from across the nation is pouring in to help apprehend the suspect who killed a Kansas police officer’s puppy.

A Parsons, Kansas, police officer discovered her 3-month-old puppy shot and beheaded on Dec. 3 in her backyard.

The crime comes as police officers and their families are increasingly targeted across the country. What makes this crime unique is that it happened in Kansas, which for the most part, has voided much of the hatred against the nation’s public safety officers.

The officer told investigators that the puppy, a purebred black German Shepherd named Ranger, was let outside into the officer’s fenced-in back yard around 7 a.m. When the officer arrived home at 2 p.m., they found the black puppy lying in the yard with its head severed.

Investigators believe the suspect stole Ranger, beheaded the dog’s head with a sharpened blade at another location, then dumped the body back into the officer’s yard.

“I cannot even describe my feelings of disdain for the person(s) responsible. I am an avid dog lover as I have made it clear to the community over the years that I have been here, I have two rescue dogs, one that I adopted from our local shelter,” Parsons Police Chief Robert Spinks said. “The level of cowardice that would lead someone to kill a little puppy named ‘Ranger’ is astonishing.

“I pray that we get a chance for the judicial system to prosecute this coward and bring them to justice… This is disgusting enough that it was done to an animal in our community, but when you add in that this appears to be a targeted attack on the home and personal property of a police officer, this makes it nothing more than a hate crime,” Spinks said.

“Our officers are attacked, hit, kicked, bit, scratched, called every name in the book and even spit on, as a part of our job, but this kind of senseless attack on a puppy at the home of an officer can’t be tolerated,” Parsons Police Deputy Chief Dennis Dodd said. “We just can’t allow this to happen as a community. The suspects clearly knew this was a law enforcement officer’s home.”

Spinks went on to say that investigators are working with neighbors to review video from home surveillance systems to try and “track this despicable criminal down.”

“This is disgusting enough that it was done to an animal in our community, but when you add in that this appears to be a targeted attack on the home and personal property of a police officer, this makes it nothing more than a hate crime,” Spinks said.

Police said since the news broke about the puppy’s murder last week, multiple agencies have stepped up to add money to the reward in this case. Police said in a post on Facebook that an additional $3,000 has been pledged to help.

–Dwight Widaman | Metro Voice