Japheth Daniel Stalcup, 25, was taken into custody Wednesday on two counts of first-degree aggravated animal abuse and one count of initiating a false police report.
On Nov. 15, 2012, Stalcup contacted deputies to report that his dogs, Buddy and Duke, had gone missing Nov. 13, and he had found them dead in a wooded area about 100 yards from his house.
According to the Clackamas County Sheriff’s Office, he told deputies at the time that he did not know who killed them.
However, on Wednesday, following a three-month investigation, Stalcup confessed to authorities that he killed them with an ax on Nov. 12, and then dumped their bodies over an embankment behind his property. He said he did this because he could no longer afford their care and knew no other alternative, the sheriff’s office reports.
[Seriously? What a ridiculous excuse. Take them to a shelter, give them away. He could have even turned them loose. How do you kill a dog with an axe? How many times did he chop at them while they tried to get away? Odious, vile man.]
Duke was a black Labrador and Buddy was a Labrador/Blue Heeler mix.
Necropsies showed that both Duke and Buddy died from "clean" blows from some sort of sharp implement.
Stalcup was lodged in the Clackamas County Jail.
(KOIN - Feb 8, 2013)
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