Authorities recover dead Rottweiler suspected to have been killed by owner's brother

OREGON -- Multnomah County search and rescue officials, along with sheriff's detectives, on Thursday recovered the remains of a Rottweiler that police suspect was killed by the owner's brother in a wooded area near their Southeast Portland home.

The dog's remains have been sent to Oregon State University, where necropsies are performed to determine the cause and manner of death. Those results are pending.

Late Monday, 20-year-old Abel Nistor, of Portland, was arrested and accused of brutally killing his brother's black Rottweiler "Leo'' using a knife, hammer and a shovel, according to court records.

Abel Nistor was seen taking the dog out into the woods near his Southeast Portland home on Monday and returned covered in blood, authorities said, according to court papers.

"I killed the dog in the cruelest way possible, and I kind of liked it,'' he told his relatives, Deputy District Attorney Shawn M. Overstreet wrote in a probable cause affidavit released Tuesday.

Nistor told authorities that the dog upset him because it was always barking and would keep him awake, according to the prosecutor.

He also warned that his family "will never find'' Leo, the affidavit said. He refused to tell authorities where he may have buried the dog.

At first, Multnomah County sheriff's deputies found only a bloody dog collar, the affidavit said.

Nistor is in custody, facing an allegation of first-degree aggravated animal abuse, accused of "maliciously killing'' the dog.

He was arraigned Tuesday afternoon on the single count in Multnomah County Circuit Court, before the dog's remains were located.

Sheriff's deputies who were called out to Nistor's home in the 5100 block of Southeast Jenne Road on Monday earned that Nistor had abandoned the dog at an animal shelter about a week earlier.

Relatives retrieved it and heard Nistor then threaten to kill the Rottweiler, the affidavit said.

His family tried to find Nistor when he took the dog into the woods. When they told him he wouldn't get away with the alleged killing, he said, "I did get away with it,'' the affidavit said.

Once taken into custody, court officials asked him about the allegations and they wrote that he "laughed about it and did not show remorse,'' according to court documents.

He told court officials that he works as a "caretaker'' but didn't say for whom. He has no prior convictions and lives at home with his parents, a brother and a sister.

He's being held on $250,000 bail. His next court date is May 6.

(Oregon Live - May 1, 2015)