Thomas William Middaugh sentenced for killing neighbor’s dog – A 44-year-old man in Michigan will be spending a couple of months behind bars for torturing, killing, beheading, and dismembering his neighbor’s dog earlier this year after authorities found the animal’s head and legs stuffed in a box inside of his barn.
Wexford County Circuit Court Judge Jason Elmore on Monday ordered Thomas William Middaugh to serve a sentence of 60 days in jail for the grisly crime, court records reviewed by Law&Crime show.
Thomas William Middaugh (MSP) and Bear the 7-year-old dog he killed, beheaded, and dismembered (WPBN screenshot)Thomas William Middaugh sentenced for killing neighbor’s dog
Middaugh was arrested in February and initially charged with two counts of felony animal killing or torturing as well as a habitual offender charge. However, he reached a deal with prosecutors in May and pleaded guilty to one count of third-degree attempted animal killing or torturing in exchange for the other charges being dropped.
In addition to the jail time, Middaugh will also have to serve two years on probation following his release.
According to a press release from the Michigan State Police, troopers from the Cadillac Post at about 11 a.m. on Saturday, Feb. 4, responded to a report about a dog being killed at a home in Wexford Township. Upon arriving at the scene, first responders spoke with the owner of the dog, described as a 7-year-old black Labrador Retriever named “Bear.”
The owner said that Bear had wandered off of the property sometime on the evening of Friday, Feb. 3. The owner said he and his wife were able to locate Bear’s tracks that night and followed them to the property of a neighbor, later identified as Middaugh. The next morning, as they continued searching for Bear, the owner said they came across an area in the snow where they could see Bear had “circled and stopped.” There, they found “a pool of blood in the snow” but no dog and no footprints leading away from the circle. However, there were tire tracks next to where the dog had circled.
