Judge denies probation request in dog deaths
Carmel, N.Y. man denied diversionary program; devastated Ridgefield dog owners consumed by their deaths, seek closure
DANBURY — A New York man charged in connection with killing two pet dogs that escaped from a Ridgefield yard was denied a pretrial diversionary program that could have dismissed the case.
Judge Robin Pavia denied Michael Konschak’s request for accelerated rehabilitation during his appearance Wednesday in state Superior Court in Danbury. Pavia said the allegations were too serious to be ignored.
Konschak, 62, of Carmel, N.Y., was charged in February with two counts of tampering with evidence, forgery, interfering with an officer, two counts of archery hunting deer (private land)/ failing to have written consent from the landowner and two counts of violating wild game hunting regulations (behavior and actions of hunters — domestic animals), according to judicial records.
In court on Wednesday, Konschak’s attorney described the November incident as a “hunting accident.” In a statement to the court,
Konschak called it a “case of mistaken identity,” saying he believed the animals were coyotes.
Konschak’s case, including the charges, records and all documents, had been sealed since he applied for the probation program last month. The case files were unsealed after Wednesday’s court hearing.
Danbury State’s Attorney David R. Applegate said Erin Caviola’s German shepherds, Cimo and Lieben, were killed after they escaped her Ridgefield yard on Nov. 18, 2022 when an animal, possibly a bear, tore down part of the six-foot fence that enclosed her property.
Caviola said she didn’t discover their fate until almost a month later when someone alerted her to photos of her dead dogs that were shared with a taxidermist, who was asked to preserve the animals.
Following an investigation, the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection charged Konschak in connection with the deaths.
However, Konschak’s law
yer, Brian Romano, said the deaths were the result of “a hunting accident.”
Konschak, a respiratory therapist and a U.S. Air Force veteran, had been in a hunting blind on a nearby property when the incident occurred. He saw the two dogs chasing two deer — a doe and a fawn — and shot them with a crossbow, Romano said during Wednesday’s hearing.
At the time, Romano said Konschak believed the dogs were coyotes. Romano noted that the dogs were not wearing collars. However, Applegate pointed out the dogs were not wearing collars because they were in a fenced yard.
“These weren’t roaming dogs by any means,” Applegate said.
Konschak then skinned the dogs and attempted to tan them to “preserve” what he believed were coyote pelts, Romano said.
Applegate argued there were inconsistencies in Konschak’s story. Even if Konschak mistook the dogs for coyotes when he fired the crossbow, he then “very quickly cut those dogs up,” despite Cimo having been neutered and Lieben’s hysterectomy scar, Appegate said.
“These were very clearly domesticated animals,” Applegate said.
Konschak also claimed the dogs were “mangey,” according to Applegate, yet he “wanted their pelts as a rug.”
Applegate said Konschak hasn’t been charged with animal cruelty, but said more charges could be pending.
Konschak had been hunting on the private property for 20 years, Romano said. Though he had verbal permission to hunt on the property, Applegate said Konschak forged documents to appear to have written authorization.
Romano said Konschak decided to come forward and cooperated with authorities because “he couldn’t live with himself.”
However, Applegate questioned whether Konschak actually cooperated, saying he didn’t come forward until after investigators questioned him, despite being informed by multiple taxidermists that the animals were dogs, not coyotes, and several flyers had been posted in the area about the missing German shepherds.
‘Members of our family’
Flanked by posters of Cimo and Lieben, Caviola read a statement to the court, saying she has not been able to get closure for her beloved pets’ deaths.
Her family has been consumed by the deaths and the “horribly gruesome” pictures that showed the mutilated dogs, she said.
“I just can’t believe anyone would do this,” Caviola said in a phone interview with Hearst Connecticut Media Group before the hearing. “We can’t get those images out of our head, how someone could look into their faces, and shoot and kill them and then take them and skin them and behead them.”
Since the dogs disappeared, Caviola’s family has used “every ounce of our free time” to find them. Receiving tips from friends, strangers and the Ridgefield community, they answered every phone call and dropped whatever they were doing to investigate a possible sighting, according to Caviola.
But while the search was ongoing, Caviola said Konschak kept their deaths a secret for his “disgusting desire to taxidermy a family’s pets.”
“Our yard and neighborhood had always been a safe haven, and now that is tarnished,” she said in court Wednesday.
In a statement he read in court, Konschak said since discovering the animals were pet dogs, he has been in “a state of profound emotional despair.”
Konschak said he has been a lifelong dog and pet owner and was “deeply ashamed.” Though he acknowledged “nothing I do or say” would change the outcome, Konschak said he was open to remedy the situation, including offering financial restitution or replacing the pets.
Romano noted that since the incident, Konschak has completed a safe hunting course and has “no interest in hunting again.”
Since the charges were filed, an online petition, which had more than 60,000 signatures as of Wednesday, was launched to raise awareness of the case and to seek justice, Caviola said.
Dozens of people, including the family, supporters for the family and animal advocates, packed the courtroom’s benches Wednesday. After the ruling, several supporters, including Desmond’s Army, stood outside the courthouse waiting for Konschak to exit. Some animal advocates held posters, calling for “Justice for Cimo & Lieben.”
To Caviola, Cimo and Lieben were more than just dogs.
“They were members of our family,” she said in a phone interview. “They gave us joy, they counted on us.”
The two dogs, halfbrother and sister, would’ve been 10 years old this year.
Caviola said she wants to get their bodies back and acknowledged in court Wednesday that she still doesn’t know where their heads are located. She did, however, receive a bit of their fur and bones from DEEP officials and buried the remains in her yard Monday.
“We don’t feel very safe or secure without them here,” she said, though the family does have a younger dog. “Just the sense of security any dog brings to the house is something that we don’t have and something’s missing from our family that we cannot get back.”
To report suspected animal cruelty or abuse, please contact your local animal control agency.