DOCUMENT: Animals, Crime

Cops: Woman, 61, Strangled Dog After Minor Bite

After killing Chihuahua, Floridian buried pooch in yard

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Dog Strangled

JUNE 27--A 61-year-old Florida woman strangled to death her pet Chihuahua after the dog nipped her hand Friday evening, police charge.

Cops today arrested Alice Evans on a felony cruelty to animals charge in connection with the killing of her 12-year-old dog, which she named Big John Evans. Evans, seen above, is being held in lieu of $25,000 bond at the Monroe County jail.

As detailed in a police report, Evans told cops that the dog nipped her on the hand Friday night, the third time the animal had bitten her this year. The Chihuahua, she told investigators, “was becoming aggressive towards her.”

When Evans awoke Saturday at 5 AM, she “choked Big John Evans with his collar,” cops reported. “She said she pulled the collar tight and held it until he died,” the report states. Evans then buried the dog in the backyard of her Marathon home.

Evans later went to a local hospital for treatment of the dog bite (which left a wound “no larger than a pencil eraser”). While there, she reportedly told medical staffers that she had killed her dog.

When asked by an officer why she had not contacted SPCA officials for “assistance with Big John Evans,” Evans offered no reply.

A necropsy confirmed that the Chihuahua died of strangulation, “a death resulting in the infliction of pain, suffering, and injury.” (2 pages)