Accused dog killer to claim insanity

WEST CHESTER » A Delaware man who allegedly stabbed his friends’ dog while he was pet sitting for them, killing the pit bull, intends to present an insanity defense if his case goes to trial, a defense attorney said Tuesday.

Assistant Public Defender David Miller told Chester County Common Pleas Court Judge David Bortner during a call of the judge’s case list that he had filed a notice of insanity defense for his client, Rafael Abran Murillo-Gonzalez, after having a psychiatric evaluation of the man conducted.

Miller’s notice was not immediately available, and it is unknown who had evaluated Murillo-Gonzalez and what their findings were. Miller said he had notified the prosecutor in the case, Assistant District Attorney Bonnie Cox-Shaw, of the filing.

The case was continued until Bortner’s next trial term which begins in August.

Criminal defendants who seek a finding of not guilty by reason of insanity in Pennsylvania must convince a judge or jury that at the time of the offense they are charged with — in this case, aggravated cruelty to animals causing death by torture — they were suffering from a mental illness so severe that they did not know that what they were doing was wrong or illegal.

Murillo-Gonzalez, 28, whose address is listed as Wilmington, Del., is currently free on bail. His trial has been continued on multiple occasions since his arrest.

According to an arrest affidavit and criminal complaint filed by Coatesville Detective Kirt Guyer, city police were called to a home in the 700 block of Coates Street around 2 p.m. on May 6, 2021. Two officers, Ryan Corcoran and John Bogan, told the detective that they had to carry a 5-year-old pit bull named Shadow from the upstairs of the house after it had apparently been stabbed in the neck and back.

Shadow, who the officers said appeared to be very friendly, was taken to the Aardvark Animal Hospital in Downingtown, but eventually died from its wounds.

When Guyer arrived at the home, he saw that the living room and kitchen had been severely damaged, with broken furniture,

jars of food smashed on the floor, and holes in the wall, among other damage. He also found four knives in the house, one of them appeared to have dog hair on its blade. There were blood smears on the walls and on carpets, as well as two large pools of blood in an upstairs bedroom.

In speaking with the residents of the house, Guyer learned that the two women had gone on vacation earlier and had asked Murillo-Gonzalez, who they said was a friend, to watch Shadow for them — arriving three times a day to walk and feed him. On the day of the incident, they received a text message from Murillo-Gonzalez with a photo of Shadow suffering from stab wounds, saying, “I’m sorry it had to be this way.”

The women were able to check their home surveillance camera and saw the video of Murillo-Gonzalez destroying the living room.

When Guyer looked at the video, he saw Murillo-Gonzalez sitting on a sofa in the living room playing computer games. Shadow was on the couch next to him, asleep. Murillo-Gonzalez stopped playing the game, looked at the dog for a moment, picked up a knife next to him, and said, “I am sorry it had to be this way.”

He then stabbed the dog, who screamed and ran away, only to be followed by Murillo-Gonzalez, who stabbed him several more times, yelling, “Die!” according to the affidavit.

When Murillo-Gonzalez stopped he sat back down on the sofa and returned to the computer game. Several hours later, he began smashing the living room, eventually causing about $1,600 in damages.

In her report, veterinarian Dr. Corinne Thomas said the stab wounds that Shadow suffered were too severe to overcome. “The horrific attack of this patient was indeed the cause of death for Shadow,” she wrote.