POWHATAN COUNTY, Va (WTVR) -- A Powhatan County man is facing two counts of animal cruelty, after two Siberian huskies disappeared in late January and were later found dead.
The pair managed to escape from their fenced in backyard on Jeter Road and were never seen after that.
Powhatan resident Patrick Obradovic posted fliers all over the county to find his missing dogs, Jethro and Abby. He said the family went door to door and used social media to search for the three and half and four-year old huskies.
Then last week, Obradovic said the Powhatan Sheriff’s Office found the dogs’ dead bodies off Jeter Road. He said it appears they were shot.
“The sheriff’s office informed us they had a lead, and they came back about 30 minutes later saying they had found our dogs shot and killed,” said Obradovic.
On Tuesday, Feb. 5., Louis Nigro Jr. was arrested. He lives just a mile from the home were the huskies escaped.
Nigro wouldn’t go on camera, but he told CBS 6 reporter Wayne Covil that he saw the huskies near his rooster cage and thought they were going to attack and kill the roosters—so he shot them.
Investigators told Tracy Obradovic that Nigro had hidden the dogs under a tarp.
Nigro was released on a $10,000 unsecured bond.
Since the disappearance and deaths of the huskies, many in the area are coming forward, talking about their own problems with family pets. In fact, one person told CBS 6 that about a dozen dogs along Jeter Road have been either shot or disappeared.
One family said that in December 2011, one of their dogs was shot in the leg and the other disappeared and hasn't been seen since.
Nigro Jr. is due in court on Feb. 15.
If all the details as he understands them hold true, Obradovic can only describe his pets’ deaths as senseless.
“They met a violent end for no reason,” he said. “It would be easier to deal with if they had been hit by a car by accident, but this was a deliberate act.”
Obradovic says his family will likely get new Siberian Huskies, but even that can’t replace Jethro and Abby.
