By ERIC S. SMITH
From: Daily Local News
WEST GOSHEN — The owner of a dog found dead and burned about 3 a.m. Saturday in the 300 block of Coates Street said whoever is responsible should surrender to police. Cora Brown of Coatesville spoke at a news conference.
Monday about her 4½-year-old Yorkshire terrier-poodle mix named Prince Wooga Wooga Brown but more commonly known as Woogie.
She said the dog was her “baby” and she is mystified how anyone could have committed this heinous crime.
“I don’t know how to make sense of it,” Brown said. “I don’t know if I could ever understand why it was done.”
Animal Protective Services officer Craig Baxter said a necropsy found Woogie was burned after he had died of apparent asphyxiation. He said there was no indication of strangulation or blunt-force trauma, and there was no charring in the lungs or throat of the dog to indicate it had been burned alive.
Baxter said the final test results will give investigators a clear picture of exactly what happened and they may be available as soon as today. He said the dog was 90 percent charred, but its face was left intact and was identified by Brown.
When the dog was found in trash bags Saturday morning, some of the bags had melted onto the animal’s carcass, Baxter said. He said a chemical had been poured onto the bags then ignited.
Brown said Woogie occasionally left his home but always returned within hours of leaving. So when he disappeared on Friday afternoon, she thought he would return. She said he liked some of the female dogs in the area, and she believed Woogie was “just playing with one of his girlfriends.” She learned of the investigation into a burned dog on Saturday afternoon and eventually contacted the Chester County SPCA. The dog was found about a tenth of a mile from Brown’s home, she said.
Brown said Woogie occasionally left his home but always returned within hours of leaving. So when he disappeared on Friday afternoon, she thought he would return. She said he liked some of the female dogs in the area, and she believed Woogie was “just playing with one of his girlfriends.” She learned of the investigation into a burned dog on Saturday afternoon and eventually contacted the Chester County SPCA. The dog was found about a tenth of a mile from Brown’s home, she said.
Brown said she was relieved Woogie was not burned alive.
“It gives me some sense of relief that he didn’t get burned prior to dying,” Brown said. “I didn’t want my puppy to die, but I do have some relief from that.”
Read more: Daily Local News
