RANDOLPH, Vt. (WCAX) – A Vermont family continues to mourn after their husky went missing earlier this spring. Authorities have charged a Randolph man in connection to the dog’s disappearance.
Two-year-old Halo disappeared from the Lyman family’s Randolph home on April 22. She was off leash in the yard as usual, but this time wandered off.
“We started searching, looking all over,” said Janice Lyman, Halo’s owner. “I slept on that couch for seven days because I was afraid that I wouldn’t hear her scratch at the door.” The search eventually widened, including missing dog posters, game cameras, and dozens of volunteers.
After 14 days Halo’s body was found. Investigators traced the incident back to 71-year-old John Brown. Court paperwork says that when the dog first went missing, Brown claimed he saw her on his property attacking his rooster. Police say Brown shot Halo at his property and the next day dragged the dog’s body from his property across 150 yards into a field near the banks of the Second Branch River.
“She was two and died violently by herself,” Lyman said.
Brown, who pleaded not guilty to animal cruelty charges, has maintained he had the right to kill Halo. Under Vermont, law animals are considered property and a domestic pet found wounding, killing, or worrying another animal – or fowl – can be killed to prevent injury to the animal being attacked.
Laura Ireland with the Vermont Law and Graduate School, says cases like this are challenging. “What’s really important to remember is that it needs to be necessary and it needs to be humane. But even though animals are property, there are cruelty protections that are in place for circumstances like this,” she said.
According to court documents, an x-ray by a local vet. did not show any bones in Halo’s stomach or feathers in her mouth. The remains of the rooster were never recovered either.
Those who know Brown don’t believe he would have acted with malice. “He lives off his land. Everything he owns, everything he is, is right here and everything he knows is right here. We just kind of let him live this way and now his whole life is upside down because he was protecting his own,” said Jana Levesque, Brown’s neighbor.
Lyman says she feels some guilt about what happened to Halo and now doesn’t let her dogs too far out of her sight. She’s determined to turn that guilt into justice for Halo. “I just feel like her death needs to stand for something,” she said. “People need to understand that this is happening around them and it’s got to stop.”
An animal cruelty charge could mean up to a year in prison, a $1,000 fine, or both.
Brown declined to comment on the case and his attorney did not respond to requests for an interview. He is due back in court in February.