Wendi West took to the witness stand on Tuesday, Feb. 24, during the trial of 23-year-old Aaron A. Bellor. Stemming from the Jan. 22, 2014, death of a schnauzer named Sassy, Bellor is charged with single counts of killing or torturing an animal and cruelty to or abandoning an animal. The former charge is a four-year felony; the latter is a 93-day misdemeanor.
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| Wendi West |
West testified that three to five days prior to Sassy's death, she and Bellor took the dog in from a co-worker of hers who was moving out of state.
The morning of Jan. 22, West left for work with Bellor and Sassy remaining home. Before noon, Bellor called West to say he had let Sassy outside, but that she had gotten off her leash and run away, West testified.
West called Bay County Animal Control that afternoon to see if Sassy was there, she said. Staff there said they had a dog matching Sassy's description, but they'd acquired the animal under suspicious circumstances and would call her back the next day.
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| RIP sweet Sassy |
After getting out of work on Jan. 23, West went to Animal Control. Staff there told her the schnauzer they had was dead and that a car had hit her, she testified. Reluctantly, West viewed the carcass at staff request, she said.
Crying as she recalled the ordeal, West testified she didn't get close enough to the body to positively identify the dog as Sassy. When West arrived back at home, she told Bellor what she had learned.
"He told me the truth," West said when asked by Bay County Assistant Prosecutor Jeff Stroud what happened.
"He explained to me that morning when he was getting (my son) ready for school ... he was boiling water for grits or hot cereal and the dog was sitting there next to him," she testified. "He went to reach for something ... and the pan got knocked and it spilled and the water hit the dog and immediately she started screaming and he got scared and he grabbed her."
Bellor took the dog to a bathtub and ran cold water on it, scaring him further when patches of fur started coming off, West testified Bellor told her. Bellor then put Sassy in the car and took West's son to school, then drove around aimlessly, West said Bellor told her.
"I'm pretty sure he told me he watched her walk out in the field, dig a hole and (he) felt horrible she was just going to dig a hole and die," West said. "He called her back, ran her over, and it was over. That was it."
Cross-examined by defense attorney Edward M. Czuprynski, West said that she, Bellor, and her kids visited with Sassy's previous owners before deciding to adopt the dog. She said there was an immediate connection between Sassy and Bellor.
"I would say they got along just fine," West testified. "I would say she probably spent more time around him than she did me. They had a great relationship, for the time that she was with us."
Experts' Testimony
Veterinarian Dr. Steve P. VanOchten testified he performed a necropsy -- or non-human autopsy -- on Sassy's remains the day of her death. The dog was 5 to 7 years old, VanOchten testified.
"The burns were very obvious on first examine," said VanOchten, classifying the burns as third-degree. "Externally, that's all you really noticed other than the trauma to the head."
The skull had multiple fractures and three ribs were fractured, VanOchten said. The injuries were rendered by blunt force trauma, he said.
Sassy could have recovered from the burns alone, though months of treatment would have been required, as would multiple thousands of dollars to fund it, VanOchten testified. Czuprynski asked if euthanasia would have been an alternative, and VanOchten said yes, so long as it was humane and quick.
Stroud asked if running an animal over with a car fit that bill.
"Euthanasia should have been a consideration," the veterinarian said. "Running it over with a car isn't something I'd recommend. With the multiple fractures, it could have been hit once, twice, three times; I'm not sure."
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| Defendant Aaron Bellor listens while one witness after another testifies to the abuse he inflicted on the little Schnauzer as he was killing it |
Bay County Animal Control Officer Olivia Shields testified that some time after the dog's death, Bellor called her agency to tell of his involvement. He gave an account to her similar to the one he gave West, telling Shields he ran over Sassy twice as he didn't want her to freeze to death.
Bay County Sheriff's Detective Christopher Mausolf testified he interviewed Bellor in person. "He said the dog took a liking to him," Mausolf said. "The dog was not mean. The dog pretty much stayed by him."
Bellor's version of events to Mausolf aligned with what he told West and Shields. The detective said Bellor gave no explanation for why he didn't take Sassy to a veterinarian after burning her.
Witnesses Recollect
Prior to West's testimony, Stroud called to the stand two witnesses to Sassy's death.
Kelly Rappleyea testified that the morning of Jan. 22 she noticed a gold Grand Am in the area of German and South Mielens roads, near her rural Portsmouth Township residence on Farley Road. She saw a dog start walking away from the car, toward a field.
Rappleyea grabbed a pair of binoculars to see why the dog was walking in the field. About that time, the car started to move, she testified.
"It was a small, black dog," she testified. "(S)he was walking along, y'know, through the field, away from the car. And I observed that wondering ... I didn't know what was going on at that time."
Rappelyea saw the dog walking parallel to Mielens Road, she testified. The car paused for three or four minutes before proceeding about 200 yards and turning around and positioned itself southbound on Mielens Road and stopped again, Rappelyea testified.
That morning, the wind chill was 12 degrees below zero, Rappelyea recalled, making her question why the dog was wandering around outside.
She saw the car's driver sitting with his arm outside the window and wearing a baseball cap.
"I thought maybe he was calling the dog over to him," she testified. "The dog then stepped out into the road. He proceeded to go straight at the dog and I did see the dog pushed off the side of the road. (The dog) kind of spun or tumbled. I definitely feel like the car struck the dog because he had moved about 6 feet."
The car drove to the corner of German and Mielens roads, turned around and came back at the dog at a very fast rate of speed, hitting the animal again, Rappelyea said.
"The dog had gotten ... underneath the car," Rappelyea testified. "It's hind-quarter was crushed, its front legs were flopping up in the air. It was painfully stressing out and scooting somewhat on the road, just wiggling and squirming with its front legs flopping up in the air. The dog was alive."
The car turned around a second time and again ran over the dog, then turned west on German Road and left the scene, Rappelyea said.
Rappelyea left her house, drove to the dog and saw it was dead. She then drove after the fleeing vehicle in hopes of getting a license plate number. Unable to locate the car, Rappelyea returned home. She called 911 to report the incident, she said.
About two hours later, Bay County Sheriff's deputies arrived and spoke with Rappelyea. The dog's body was still in the road at that time.
Under cross-examination, defense attorney Czuprynski asked Rappelyea if she had seen a red patch on the dog's back. She replied she did not notice it until the dog was already dead. She also said she was unable to hear any whining or noises the dog might have possibly made.
As Rappelyea recounted for Czuprynski that she believed the car struck the dog three times rather than twice, Bellor shook his head.
Before the car struck Sassy, the dog was largely walking slowly, but occasionally pranced around, Rappelyea said.
Fellow Portsmouth Township and South Farley Road resident Sandra Migut testified that the morning of Jan. 22, she saw a north-facing car parked near the intersection of German and South Mielens roads and a dog running around in a nearby field.
"I seen the vehicle start to move north onto Mielens," Migut testified. "I was under the assumption the dog was loose and he was trying to gain control of the dog. I noticed that no one was getting out of the vehicle to obtain the dog ... and he was kinda doing u-turns and it clicked that something wasn't right."
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| Witness Sandra Migut on the stand |
Migut removed her son from the room and, like Rappelyea, retrieved a set of binoculars. She saw the dog enter the road and come near the vehicle, only for the car to run over the canine, Migut said.
Before this occurred, she, too, saw the car's driver with his arm out of the window, making some kind of gesture.
"My assumption was he was deliberately trying to coax the dog into the road," Migut said.
After the dog was struck and the car drove away, Migut called 911. When deputies arrived at the scene, Migut drove to it and saw the schnauzer's body, adding that there was no hair on its back.
Migut also went onto Facebook and posted a statement sharing her anger over the situation, she said.
Questioned by Czuprynski, Migut said she only saw the car strike the dog one time.
After Mausolf testified, Bay County Chief Circuit Judge Kenneth W. Schmidt ended the day's proceedings. The trial is to resume at 8:30 a.m. Wednesday, Feb. 25.
(MLive.com - Feb 24, 2015)
Earlier:
- Men face jail in boiling water, hammer attacks on dogs
- Arizona man says he gave schnauzer to friend days before the dog was killed in Bay County
- Woman gathers 836 signatures seeking max penalty for Bay City man charged with killing dog by pouring boiling water on her then running over her with his car
- Trial adjourned for Bay City man charged with felony in schnauzer's death
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