Authorities are looking for leads in connection to the shooting and mutilation of two dogs who fled their yard during a storm in Justin on Dec. 14, the Denton County Sheriff's Office says.
The dogs, a 2-year-old black lab mix named Nessa and a 7-year-old yellow lab named J.C., got out of the yard on Dec. 14, just before midnight, the sheriff's office said.
"I was just so worried about them being lost this time," Joi Bouchard said.
The sheriff's office said the dogs' owners searched for hours, but could not find their pets.
The dogs' bodies were discovered, shot to death and mutilated, on Indian Trails Drive near Sam Reynolds Road in Justin, authorities said.
"To find them the way we found them, grotesque, just grotesque," said Aaron Bouchard, who went to the crime scene to identify his dogs. "You go through anything you go through when you lose any family member: rage, mad, upset, sad, lonely, all that comes pulling in on you."
A witness told sheriff's deputies they saw a pickup truck, possibly black, carrying three men near that location around 1:30 a.m. on Dec. 16.
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"I can't understand why someone would do this," Joi Bouchard said. "Everyone watched Old Yeller. Everybody cried at the end. And if you didn't, well, you're the sick bastard that did this."
The Denton County Sheriff's Office said it would like to locate and question the men in the truck and released descriptions of each one. The first is a heavyset white man between 25 and 30 years old with long black hair and a beard. The second is another heavyset white man between 25 and 30 years old, but with blond hair. And the third is a black man, who is also between 25 and 30 years old. Authorities said the last man is either balding or has very short hair.
Authorities asked that anyone with information call Crime Stoppers at 800-388-8477.
