Richard Bijacsko, 51, confessed to killing the dog after officers confronted him with inconsistencies in his story, according to the Burlington County SPCA Humane Police.
Bijacsko told officers he hit the puppy twice with the back side of an ax, then left the dog’s body in a recycling bucket at a Florence motel on Monday night, police allege.
The puppy’s owner, who was not identified, lives at the motel but was not allowed to keep the dog there, police said. The owner had taken the puppy to a Springfield farm to be watched by Bijacsko.
According to police, Bijacsko said the dog “caused some problems for him so he ‘took him out.’”
Under initial questioning, Bijacsko claimed the dog had broken its leash and run into the path of a vehicle on Route 68.
"He said he carried the dog into the house and then put him in a recycling bucket and took the dog back to the owner and dropped it off," says a police account.
But a search found no evidence of an accident on the highway, and Bijacsko claimed he could not remember where the dog was struck "because he had been drinking," the account says.
A veterinarian then X-rayed the puppy's skull and found multiple fractures. "In the opinion of the vet, the injuries were not consistent with those typically seen in an accident involving an animal and a vehicle," the police account notes.
Bijacsko was charged with inflicting unnecessary cruelty to a living creature, cruelly beating a living creature and causing the death of a living creature.
He also was arrested by Springfield police for a weapons offense related to the case, then was released on $5,500 bail, authorities said. Police said they recovered the ax that was used to attack the dog.
The arrest followed a joint investigation by the Humane Police, Animal Control Officer George Ondusko and Springfield and Florence police officers.
(Courier Post Online - April 23, 2016)
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