Police said that they would fully investigate if any new information pointed to a potential criminal offense.
Police responded Aug. 20 to a tip that someone had posted to social media app Snapchat a video of someone stabbing a dog. The tipster told police where they believed the dog’s corpse was and when police responded there, they found it in a dumpster with what appeared to be two stab wounds to the chest and one stab wound near the upper chest/lower neck region.
Police questioned a teen about the video and they said a former student accidentally hit the dog and saw it crawl to the side of the road and fall over and die. Later, that former student’s friends went back to retrieve the canine corpse, saying they thought it would be “funny” to do so, and put it in the trunk of the vehicle.
The driver didn’t want to touch it and told others to remove it from the vehicle. One of the teens did so, throwing it into the dumpster.
Police confirmed they found a video of a male student carrying the dog to the dumpster with a caption reading “You missed me stabbing the dog.” The dog did not appear to be alive in the video, which also was only a few seconds in length, police said.
Police interviewed the student and he admitted to stabbing the dog. He told police that friends “dared him to (expletive) with it, so (redacted) stabbed it.”
He allegedly told police that “it was a dead dog so I didn’t think nothing of it.”
Police removed the dog from the dumpster and confirmed that only three stab wounds were located on the dog.
“There was no indication that the dog was mutilated by slashing or any other destructive actions,” police said in the report.
Police tracked down the dog’s owner by speaking with the company that manufactured the chip embedded in the dog. The dog’s owner told police they were aware the dog was dead after being hit by a vehicle Aug. 19. Police said they also checked police records and found a report from that date stating police had determined that the dog was deceased and requested the street department respond to remove it.
“Due to the confirmation of the dog being deceased prior to the dog being stabbed, it was found that no crime had occurred,” police said in the report.
Miamisburg police confirmed that stabbing a human corpse would be a chargeable offense under Ohio law as abuse of a corpse. There is no chargeable offense under Ohio law for stabbing a dog’s corpse, police said.
Lt. Will Ring, the department’s spokesman, told this news outlet Wednesday that although the case initially was closed, it ended up reopened “due to additional information and is being actively investigated.” While police cannot discuss what additional information was obtained, “hopefully we’ll be able to wrap things up very soon,” Ring said.
According to another police report, school officials spoke with the student, who expressed remorse and believed it was no big deal because the dog was already dead. The official attempted to have the student meet and talk with a school social worker and the student “adamantly refused to do so,” according to the report.
Miamisburg Superintendent Laura Blessing told the school district’s parents via email today that the district is aware of the incident and is cooperating with the police department throughout the investigation.
“While the incident did not occur on school property or during school hours and is not under the jurisdiction of the school system, we want to be clear that the Miamisburg City School District unequivocally condemns any form of animal cruelty,” Blessing said. “We firmly believe in promoting respect, empathy, and compassion for all animals.”
She said the district encourages families to engage in open conversations with their children regarding the respectful treatment of animals.
“Should your student need any additional support during this period, please don’t hesitate to reach out to our school counselors,” she said. “Together, we can create a nurturing environment for our students to learn and grow.”
