GRIFFIN, Georgia — Editor's note: The events in this article may be disturbing to some readers.
A man is now facing charges in what Griffin Police Chief Mike Yates said was one of the "most disturbing" animal cruelty cases he has seen in three decades.
Griffin Police said on Feb. 6, a woman told officers she left her pit bull dog with her brother when she traveled to New York in Nov. 2019. After returning in March of last year, her dog was nowhere to be found and she no clue what happed to it.
The woman told police her brother later lent her his phone to use until she could get a new one. That's when she found gory photos and a video of her slaughtered dog on his device.
The woman described the series of horrifying images to police, showing the backseat of a car covered with blood, her brother holding a severed dog's head, and a video of him holding the dog's skull while moving it's jaw as if it were speaking, according to police.
The man allegedly admitted to his sister the dog was hers and he had jokingly "put the dog out of it's misery." Griffin Police said they found the photos and video the woman recounted during an investigation, and tied the events to the address of 1015 Lake Avenue.
Police said a detective questioned the brother about the decapitated pit bull. He told officers he did not "kill the dog, but that he had 'eaten the dog'" after it was hit by a car. However, police didn't find any evidence of that claim after looking at the photos and video footage.
The man was arrested and charged with aggravated felony cruelty to animals after police issued a warrant.
"This is one of the most disturbing Animal Cruelty cases I have seen in 30 plus years,” Chief Mike Yates said. "I cannot comprehend the mind of an individual who would commit such acts on an innocent and defenseless animal."