Fort Worth police have made an arrest in a disturbing case of animal cruelty. Two dogs were brutally stabbed to death in a Northwest Fort Worth neighborhood, and NBC 5 has learned that detectives are looking closely at the suspect's mental health history.
Detectives from the Fort Worth Police Department's Animal Cruelty unit and the new Mental Health Crisis Intervention Team are on the case.
The man arrested Friday was identified as 30-year-old Harrison Hilliard, and he is charged with felony animal cruelty after police believe he killed two neighbors’ dogs in the middle of the night.
"He was our protector for our family," Ruth Soto said of her Bullmastiff, Oso.
Oso was a big boy: 200 pounds of tail wagging and face licking. But when something was wrong, he'd let the family know, especially when Hilliard, their back yard neighbor, came too close.
"My neighbor didn't like for my dog to bark at him," Soto said.
A couple weeks ago, Soto found a note posted on her front door that she believes came from Hilliard. It reads: "Please move your dog away from my fence line. I can't have your dog bark at me every time I go in my back yard. Do NOT go to my house to speak to me."
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Detectives are comparing handwriting in the note with another sample to confirm if it is Hilliard's writing.
Then this week, something terrible happened to Oso. The family found him stabbed to death, with too many wounds for detectives to count.
"He just didn't deserve that," Soto said.
The same thing happened to her next door neighbor's dog. That family saw a man in their back yard before he hopped the fence and ran. Their dog, a husky named Ellie, was stabbed to death, too.
"Very, very unnerving, just because I wasn't able to sleep calmly at night," said owner Joanna Gutierrez.
Neighbors were relieved on Friday, knowing that a suspect who lived so very close is in custody. Fort Worth police detectives stayed up all night to get a warrant and get Hilliard off the streets.
"We wanted to make sure that someone who was willing to do this kind of violence on an animal was not going to transfer that type of anger and violence towards human beings," said Fort Worth Police Sgt. Marc Povero, supervisor of the FWPD Mental Health Crisis Intervention Team.
Soto agrees.
"He needs help. He can't be around kids. I mean, I don't think he can be around people," Soto said. "I just want justice for my dog. That's it."
Fort Worth police told NBC 5 that Hilliard would be booked into jail on felony animal cruelty charges and will go through a mental health screening.
Detectives collected several knives, a sword and throwing stars from Hilliard's home that they're checking for animal blood. They're also working with neighboring cities to check if eight to 10 more animal cruelty cases in the area are connected.
