Arkansas Couple Facing Felony Charges After Admitting To Fatally Stabbing Pet Dog 15 Times

Authorities in Springdale, Arkansas say a couple – Timothy Triggs, 42, and 46-year-old Stacey Deleon – were arrested Tuesday on felony charges of aggravated cruelty to animals after being accused of fatally stabbing their pet dog 15 times.

According to the 5 News Online, police officials responded to an apartment home on N. West End on December 16 after receiving a call from a landlord about a large amount of blood that was found inside of the garage.

Responding officers discovered a trail of blood leading to the backyard, where they found a shallow hole with the body of a dog inside.

It was reported that the dog’s front legs were tied to its neck using shoestrings and the dog had been stabbed 15 times on its head, neck, and chest.

According to a police report, “a bloody knife with a bent tip and a hammer with blood and hair on it were found on the property.”

The landlord told police officials that a worker was installing air conditioning units when he stumbled upon the blood after the previous tenants – Triggs and Deleon – had moved out of the apartment.

During an interview with police, the couple admitted to stabbing the dog to death with a knife because it had been sick. Deleon stated that as she was stabbing the dog, she closed her eyes in hopes that it would be a quick, painless death but the dog suffered.

Deleon stated that she wish she would have handled the situation differently.

The couple went on to say that they made no effort to contact a veterinarian but did state that they made several attempts to call animal control that was unsuccessful – their reason for not being able to get their dog help was not immediately made clear.

Reports say animal control did not have any records of the couple making any attempts to contact them.

The couple’s next door neighbor, Ruben Sanchez, stated that he was shocked after learning they admitted to stabbing their pet dog 15 times for being sick

“I was wondering what was going on until the owner of the house came up and told me,” said Sanchez. “Why hurt a pet, he didn’t hurt anybody. He barked like any other dog, that’s about it. We’ve lived here about eight or nine years now and never had any problems with nobody.”

Sanchez told reporters that the couple mostly stayed to themselves but he would often see them outside with their dog and he “didn’t appear scared or hurt.”

“They’d had the dog out there on the leash when he started barking, we’d holler at them to shut up, and after a while, he’d go back in. He’d walk in like normal, not like he was afraid of the owner or anything like that,” Sanchez added.

Social media users have spoken, calling the fatal stabbing of a dog “disgusting” and “horrible.”

In a Facebook comment, Lisa Neel wrote: “I love my fur babies. However, I would like people to know I’m not upholding any type of actions like this but we may not know the whole story. The media has a way of leaving out or adding to for ratings. This may or may not be all there was to this.”

“I had a friend that put his dog down because it was hit by a car and was barely clinging to life. In my eyes, he did it as a favor because of the condition of his fur baby. Believe me, he did it as a favor. Either way, they’ll have to answer to for this.”

The Arkansas couple was arrested and charged with animal cruelty following the stabbing death of their dog. Triggs and Deleon were taken to the Washington County Detention Center and they are being held on a $3,500 bond.

[Featured Image By MilosStankovic/iStock]