Rash of slayings horrifies Maine towns

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The Boston Globe

By Jenna Russell, Globe Staff

Sam and Gracie never finished their last meal, steak laced with antifreeze.

The dog and cat, whose owners say they shared everything, even food, left a portion of the poisoned meat unfinished in the yard. Soon, both pets were struggling to walk. When their kidneys failed and the fatal cause was diagnosed, the animals' anguished owners told the veterinarian to end their suffering.

The poisonings horrified the small town of Stockton Springs, Maine, last month. The killer has not been caught, and local pet owners are on edge. Some residents wonder if Sam, an 18-month-old Lab mix, was targeted for his occasional barking. The pets' owners, Ed and Brandy Miller, have begun locking their doors, even during the day.

''We never used to worry about anything," Brandy Miller said. ''It's nerve-wracking, because you don't know if it was random or not."

Sam and Gracie were not the only Maine pets to die painful deaths, apparently at human hands, in recent months. At least a dozen dogs and cats have been deliberately killed statewide in the last six months, including seven dogs believed to have been poisoned in Monson and Abbot, small towns northwest of Bangor. Typically, three or four pet killings are reported in an entire year, said Norma Worley, director of Maine's Animal Welfare Program.

''These violent crimes we're just not used to having," she said.

The cause of the deaths in Stockton Springs was confirmed when a piece of steak found near the dog's run was tested and found to contain antifreeze, said Lisa Sawyer, the local animal control officer. Authorities do not believe the poisonings in Stockton Springs are connected to the seven suspected fatal poisonings more than 60 miles away in Monson and Abbot. Two more dogs in Monson were poisoned and survived, animal control officer Joe Guyotte said.

More than 100 miles away in the northern Maine town of Woodland, three other dogs were found dead last month, their bodies wrapped in plastic bags, said officials. One of the dogs, a Brittany spaniel, had been beaten; the causes of the other deaths have not been determined.

Attacks on pets have not been limited to Maine. Frederick Grossmith, 48, of Foxborough was charged with fatally shooting his neighbor's dog, a Siberian husky named Kato, last month. In Rhode Island, police say Edgar Goulet of South Kingstown fatally shot his pit bull, Sparky, on May 1, and Richard Heines of Charlestown shot and killed a neighbor's Rottweiler in March.

Animal cruelty investigators do not know if pet killings are increasing, because attacks are not recorded in a central database. Growing awareness of the problem and tougher animal cruelty laws may have led to an increase in reporting of the crimes, said officials. In Maine and Massachusetts, killing a pet is a felony, punishable with up to five years of jail time.

Despite harsher penalties, some specialists say one kind of abuse appears to be increasing: retaliation attacks, typically launched by a neighbor of a pet that has trespassed, disturbed the peace, or damaged property.

In Monson and Stockton Springs, several residents said they suspect the poisoned dogs were targeted by someone upset by their barking or roaming.

In Monson, Doug Villone, a former animal control officer, said some of the dogs poisoned there had been ''problem causers" in the town of 650 people.

''My suspicion, my gut feeling, is that someone around here got disgusted and decided to be a vigilante," said Villone, who resigned his post last year because of an injury.

Other recent attacks fit a similar pattern. A dog was shot to death last month in Waldoboro, Maine, by a 71-year-old man who told authorities he thought the dog was chasing deer on his land.

In Stockton Springs, home to about 1,500 people, another dog is missing, and pet owners are alarmed, said Sawyer.

Led by local fisherman Kenneth ''Skeet" Wyman, townspeople have offered a $1,000 reward for information leading to an arrest. Wyman no longer lets his black Labrador retriever, Cooter, go out alone. ''Things like this you don't get out of your mind," he said.