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Dog Exhumed
Following Abuse Allegations JOLIET, Ill. -- An animal crimes investigator exhumed the bloody body of a pit bull from a shallow grave after neighbors complained of its owner's brutality. Bob Darin, an investigator licensed by the state, made the grisly discovery Monday afternoon in the alley between Hebbard and Siegmund streets in Joliet. "He beat the living s--- out of it," Darin said after tearing open the black plastic garbage bag the dog had been stuffed in before it was buried.The right side of the dog's body was caked with blood. Darin said one leg appeared broken and the animal bore marks consistent with a beating. He took the animal from its grave to Joliet Township Animal Control, where it would be frozen for a trip south to Champaign, where it would undergo a necropsy at the University of Illinois. Darin said he was alerted to the alleged animal abuse on Sunday by an investigator with the state's Department of Agriculture.Neighbors had reported that the dog escaped from the yard of its owner Saturday, Darin said. The owner caught the dog and threw it over a wooden fence and back into his yard, he said. The dog apparently broke its leg when it plummeted to the ground. Darin said neighbors noticed the man burying his dog some time after tossing it over his fence. They "called various police stations and animal controls, and it got to me.""From what I can view," Darin said, "(the dog) was severely beaten to death." The dog's owner was not home while Darin was digging up the dead animal just beyond the man's fenced back yard. Still, a county deputy was there for protection."I called for police backup because (the owner) is a known criminal and possibly gang-affiliated," Darin said. A police source said the resident of the house from which the dog escaped was released from the county jail in recent weeks. He reportedly was incarcerated on a traffic charge.Dan Flannery, the deputy standing by for Darin, said he planned to document the discovery. "Based on what I've seen, that's a criminal offense, so I'll have to do a report," Flannery said.Darin also said he intended to report his findings, and that he was going to State's Attorney James Glasgow with the matter. "I will contact Mr. Glasgow with the case and I'm sure he will prosecute it to its fullest," he said
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