We showed you five amazing, case-busting heroic pets in part one, and now we’re here to bring you five more! Read on to learn about Grandma’s kittens, the venison that sent away a murderer, and other animals that put criminals away for good.
Number Five: The Feces Fail. Philip Stroud was convicted of the murder of three in Indiana in 2002. The alleged killer was caught after he had tracked dog feces onto the murder scene. After testing an imprint of the feces left by his Nike sneakers to a sample taken from Shroud’s actual shoe, he was matched to the crime. Thus, a bad man was sent away by an unwitting dog taking care of his daily business.
Number Four: Grandma’s Kittens. The burned and mutilated body of Tracy Ann Carson was found after her disappearance upon celebrating her birthday at an Everton bar in Iowa. The remains of Carson’s body were found wrapped in fabric and buried. Upon investigation, the fabric was linked to the home of the grandmother of Benjamin Michael O’Donnell, a friend who accompanied her to the bar. Upon further inspection, investigators found cat hairs on the fabric that matched the DNA of the grandmother’s cats. When confronted with this evidence along with traces of the victim’s blood in his car, O’Donnell plead guilty to second-degree murder.
Number Three: Damned by Dog Hairs. An 82-year-old woman by the name of Mildred Hauser was sexually assaulted and smothered to death in her home in Crawford County, Pennsylvania in 2002. Killer Patrick Ramsey was suspected after dog hairs from the crime scene matched the DNA of Ramsey’s dog. Ramsey was soon arrested after attempting to use Hauser’s credit card, and police also found the victim’s jewelry on his person. Confronted, Ramsey pleaded guilty to first-degree murder and received life in prison.
Number Two: Colonel’s Bloody Trail. Through the use of canine DNA forensics, a criminal of almost a thousand offenses was finally placed behind bars. Justice was brought to Duane Daniels in 2002 after he stabbed a club bouncer to death. After his friend, Spencer Sheppard, had been escorted out of a club in southeast London, a livid Daniels and three other men ordered an attack by Colonel, Sheppard’s pit bull terrier, on the bouncer. The bouncer, George Napier, was found injured and stabbed to death. In the attack, Colonel was also injured, producing a trail of blood leading to Sheppard’s residence. The blood trail aided in convicting Daniels and Sheppard to eight years of imprisonment, and five years to the other two men.
Number One: Tainted Venison. In Pennsylvania, 1997, a shooting occurred that was not settled until 2005. Hunter Paul Horvat Jr. was found killed by a gunshot in the back after he had killed a deer. During the investigation of the case, a sample of venison was taken from suspect Lawrence Cseripko’s freezer. After forensics matched this DNA with that of the blood found from the deer at the scene of the crime, Cseripko was sentenced to life for murder in the first degree. In addition to the forensics evidence, witnesses stated that Cseripko was heard telling Horvat that if he ever saw him again, he would kill him.
