Family seeks justice for mutilated dog

Pet was stolen from their backyard, then returned with a note

A Texas family said their dog was stolen and returned later with gruesome injuries and an anonymous note.

Michelle Carnline, an Austin-area resident, said her family’s 6-month-old chocolate Great Dane disappeared from her backyard on a Sunday evening two weeks ago.

At first, the family thought the dog, Landon, had managed to escape. But after finding muddy human footprints in the backyard, it didn’t take long to realize what had happened.

“That’s when we called the cops,” Carnline said. “We knew somebody was in our backyard.”

At the family’s home, police found other signs of forced entry into the backyard, confirming their suspicion that the dog had been taken. Carnline began posting on Facebook, desperately asking for the return of the dog, “no questions asked.”

The next day, Landon was back — but something was wrong.

“When they returned him, he had an open gash inside his right leg, and what looked like burn marks on the bottom of his paws, heels, side of his legs and on his butt,” Carnline said.

After the dog’s sudden return, Carnline said she spotted a note taped to her husband’s car.

“Hi there, my son took your dog,” the anonymous note read. “I apologize, he finally told us where he got him from. We will punish him accordingly. I do apologize again. Please don’t get the police involved. He’s just a kid.”

Carnline called police again and an officer came for the note, telling her they would check the piece of paper for fingerprints.

This week, Landon had his second surgery, is battling an infection and had a negative reaction to pain medicine.

“We need this person to be off the streets,” Carnline said. “If he’s really a kid, what’s to say he can’t do that to somebody else?”