What Evil Person Sealed a Dog Inside This Crate in Willow Grove?

Help police find the perpetrator behind this sadistic crime.

Yes, this is what you think it is.

Yes, this is what you think it is.

However many terrible people there were in the world before, that number has now increased by one.

The Upper Dublin Township Police Department is investigating a gruesome discovery that was made earlier this week: A dog was found dead inside this plastic-sealed metal crate.

Upper Dublin Township Detective Mike Gommer says that police were called to the driveway of Prudential Annuities on Welsh Road in the Willow Grove section of the township on Wednesday. There, they found the sealed crate, which contained the remains of a young female pit bull terrier, estimated to be between six months and one year old.

“Everybody is shocked,” says Gommer. “Upper Dublin is a sleepy little hamlet. A crime like this hits us totally out of the blue.”

So far, no one has come forward to report seeing anyone dump the dog in the Willow Grove driveway, and Gommer is searching for video evidence that might have caught the suspect committing the sadistic act. According to Gommer, a necropsy that was performed on the dog determined that it had been dead for about three days.

It’s unclear if the dog was dumped in the driveway before or after it had died, but if it was still alive, Gommer says it’s reasonable that no one would have heard it barking, because it’s an industrial area. But whether the dog was alive or dead when the crate was placed there, the detective says the evidence strongly suggests that the dog did, in fact, die of suffocation inside the sealed crate, as opposed to being placed in the crate after it had died.

“There was a lot of feces in the crate, as well as some additional things that lead us to believe that she was alive when the crate was sealed,” Gommer explains.

The Montgomery County SPCA is assisting Upper Dublin police with the investigation. According to executive director Carmen Ronio, there is nothing that suggests that the animal was involved in dogfighting. “But she was very thin,” says Ronio. “And she had a dislocated or broken hip.” Ronio expects that if they person is found, they would be charged with misdemeanor animal cruelty, which could involved fines and some jail time.

“This was such a beautiful dog,” says Gommer. “There’s just no excuse. There are so many avenues that this person could have taken. We would have happily taken the dog.”

Anyone with information can reach Detective Gommer at 215-646-2101.

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