Idaho Dog Disappearances, Killings Baffle Investigators

Dog owners are on high alert, as a string of Idaho dog disappearances and killings remains a mystery — one that endangers local canine populations.

The Idaho dog disappearances center around the Magic Valley area near Twin Falls, and it’s not just one or two dogs. Dozens have been ostensibly abducted and killed, with at least one dog’s body discovered with markers for what appeared to be a “ritualistic execution,” authorities say. That animal has been covered with a purple cloth, his head crushed with a rock.

Four German Shepard mixes found dumped on the side of the road had died, “bludgeoned and shot in the head” according to authorities, the latest victims of the Idaho dog disappearances. One local investigator, deputy with the Twin Falls County Sheriff’s Office Gary Trostel, described a grisly discovery and the confirmation that the animals had indeed been mistreated:

“We didn’t know until today how they had died: poisoned or shot or what. We knew it was some type of head trauma the way the eyes bulged out and with all the bleeding.”

Trostel said that while the dog bodies are piling up, investigators are having a hard time parsing the evidence uncovered thus far. He says that local dog owners are exercising extreme caution, but that no one has stepped forward to claim the four animals found dead Thursday.

Trostel explains:

“We’re staying on it and working with what leads we have. We know something is going on but we don’t know what it all means. We’re trying to find out.”

The local Humane Society is offering a $5,000 reward for any leads in the Idaho dog disappearances, but no leads have yet been phoned in. Investigators say that while the animals were brutally killed, there is no indication the dogs were used for an activity such as dog fighting before the killings.