Tennessee: Owner on puppy death: 'It's just so evil'

TENNESSEE -- Investigators in Blount County arrested a man Tuesday for intentionally killing his neighbor's dog.

Diane Stephens was fostering a 7-month-old miniature Pinscher mix named was Kyra. Blount County Sheriff James Lee Berrong said Fred Lee Wright, 62, of Louisville admitted to killing the dog Tuesday morning.

Stephens told 10News she called 911 just after 8:00 a.m. Tuesday morning. She said Wright was standing in her driveway and wouldn't let her leave for work. Wright eventually let Stephens go. She then traveled down the road to meet with a Blount County sheriff's deputy.

"I said, 'Please go back and make sure he's not at my house doing something,'" Stephens said. "And, she called and said, 'he killed your dog.'"

The deputy found the 18-pound dog dead and bleeding on the ground in her kennel. When the deputy talked to Wright, he admitted he killed the dog.

"I can't even comprehend it," Stephens said. "It's just so evil."

The Blount County Sheriff's Office charged Wright with intentionally killing an animal and stalking. He was released on $1,500 bond Monday evening.

Stephens said over the last three years Wright had become increasingly harder to deal with. He would constantly bother her about her property. Stephens said Wright even once threatened her life.

"I've called the police on numerous occasions," she said. "He's even pulled a gun on me and my dog when we were driving out before and said, 'I was going to kill you all.'"

No court date has been set in the case. Stephens said Kyra is currently at UT where experts will perform a necropsy on her to determine how she died.

(WBIR - Aug 27 2013)