Spurned Suitor Arrested In Dog Beheading

Teen Owner Received Head In A Box With Valentine's Candy Left At Front Door

(CBS/AP)  A 24-year-old man has been arrested, suspected of cutting the head off a 17-year-old girl's pet dog and leaving it at her front door in a gift-wrapped box, reportedly because she hadn't returned his affections.

The girl's grandmother told the St. Paul Pioneer Press she had suspected Anthony A. Gomez since the head was delivered to her granddaughter, Crystal, in February in a box with candy hearts.

"I thought it was a sign that he loved her and she hurt him because she didn't want to be his friend anymore," Shirley Brown told the paper. "He knew that killing her dog was the thing that would hurt her worst of all; it would tear her heart out."

Gomez was charged with felony counts of animal cruelty and torture for allegedly beheading a dog.

"I think I can sleep a lot better now," said Crystal Brown. "It will make me feel way safer. Now we can walk around the whole block."

Crystal was devastated last month when Chevy, her 4-year-old Australian shepherd mix, disappeared. Two weeks later, a gift box addressed to Crystal was found at the front door of a house she shares with her grandmother. Inside, Crystal found Valentine's Day candy and a garbage bag containing her pet's head.

Police said Gomez lived a few blocks from Brown. He has a police record involving assault.

The case drew widespread media attention. The television show "America's Most Wanted" posted the case on its Web site, and donations pushed a $2,500 reward offered by the Humane Society of the United States to $20,000.

"Acts like this have disturbing implications for the community at large because there is a well-documented connection between animal cruelty and human violence," the Humane Society said on its Web site.

[toolmangler-2009]

Some posters here are as sick as the pet beheader. Don't worry, we won't behead you though.
Next time don't try to be 'cute', just make an intelligent statement that matters.

[kailumego1]

Be for real Agnim, yes there was a miracle of conception and I actually mated with a dog.

You have lost it!!!

You know exactly what I meant, but, then again, maybe not, because you're not a dog,cat, or animal lover.

When you've had the pleasure of caring or loving someone other than yourself you will understand the sentiment here.

After a period of time they do become a part of your family, in which you do think of them as children.

[agnim]

"I agree, I have two dogs and I consider them my two sons, ....
Posted by kailumego1 at 08:52 PM : Mar 23, 2007"

No doubt you are the one who mated with their mother, right?
Some Americans have been known to kiss, sleep with, and mate their dogs.

You have no HUMANS with whom to form companionship?
All this man-animal stuff is getting out of hand.

The lowly dogs are supposed to SERVE humans and are 'happy' just to do that. Animals aren't meant to be mates and 'sons', etc.

[luckygirl042]

What a sick evil "man" (I use the term loosely)
Can you imagine how abusive and controlling he would have been in a relationship with the girl, or any other woman? She is very lucky she got away from him. This guy needs to be kept away from society, he is real trouble. I hope his cell mate is a very large, angry dog lover.

[randalds]

I suggest sentencing him to life as a dog food taste tester for Menu Foods in Canada.

[kailumego1]

I agree, I have two dogs and I consider them my two sons, and if some lowlife was to try to hurt my dogs there would be hell to pay.

My dogs are like two large babies, they love you unconditionally. One dog I took in because someone had thrown him out into the streets when he was a puppy. He was running around scared and hungry. It was obvious that he had been abused, it took a lot for him to trust me. He likes to cuddle up and give you a sloppy kiss, as well as the other dog.

Their names are Choc and Dustin, and the thought of someone decapitating my dog, I would want to kill him.

[knyghtwolf]

superchez1, I feel so sorry for you that you take and treat life so distainfully. We have taken animals out of their habitat and placed them in ours and expect them to conform to our ways of life to exist, when they don't we just toss them out and walk away, is that what happened to you? Did your parents just walk out on you and leave you to fend for yourself, or were you taught that anything below the human species is here for our own personal pleasure and enjoyment? Life is life, and many people such as myself use service animals in order to have a satisfying, more fulfilling life without having to depend on others to do it for them. They get NO pay but I do make sure that my dog has many MANY ways of comfort and special treats he enjoys, and he knows that if some lowlife tried to hurt him, I would do whatever it took to save him, and in several instances, I have done just that. One man is doing five years in the federal pen in Texas, and another had to have some facial reconstruction, make no mistake about it, just because some people are disabled, its not wise to let one get their hands on you. I detest violence but I detest animal abuse even more. I sincerely hope that you and others that feel the way you do never have to use a dog as a service animal.

[elcrappo]

Okay, a dog, this guy is sick. I can see a cat, but not a dog. Just kidding cat lovers. Anyone who does this to a defenseless creature, including young kids and babies who know no better, needs to be sent somewhere for rehab. Maybe the next space probe to Saturn's moon can accomodate a passenger like this- no food or water though.

[jabberwock11]

If someone did that to one of my dogs they would get a bullet in the head and I wouldn't feel the least bit of remorse. My dogs are part of my family.

[kailumego1]

"I thought it was a sign that he loved her and she hurt him because she didn't want to be his friend anymore," Shirley Brown told the paper. "He knew that killing her dog was the thing that would hurt her worst of all; it would tear her heart out."

This woman sounds just as crazy as he juvenile who committed the crime. Why is she rationalizing this horrible offense??????

[kailumego1]

This is "pure" evil, this guy should go directly to jail, and don't pass go. How insane, the makings of a future "serial killer". People should not take this likely, this is serious. If this guy had enough nerve to decapitate a animal just think what he would do to a human.

He is evil, and I hope the prosecution throws him under the jail.

[ralan40]

Those people who feel it was "just a dog that was harmed" fail to understand that most serial killers started out with animal victims and worked their way up. Unless Superchez1 feels that it's OK to "work up" to humans before they should be punished. I would agree that this girl is lucky to avoid this guy and lucky she wasn't the one killed.

[agnim]

This girl is lucky she had a dog to be harmed in her stead; and she did well in avoiding this nut case.

This is one sure case of a guy needing to be sent to another country; baring that, he has to be caged in a loony bin as a preventative measure. He's sending a strong message of his mental incompetence.

[sugarmice-2009]

this guy is sick - and I'm sure this isn't the first time he abused a living creature. Whether human or animal - thank god he was apprehended because I have a feeling he wouldn't stop with just the head of a dog - he had other intentions in mind - he is a sick sick person and shouldn't be on this planet

[bookwerm314]

If it can be substantiated that he is responsible, the inhumanity of his act does indicate that he is a sociopath. And his "contract with humanity" is expired, requiring lifetime incarceration in a prison or mental facility.
In the same way our world does not let someone drive without brakes, we can't let someone exist in the free world that lack the limitiations that would prevent such an act.
IN as much as he is no longer "human" as demonstrated by his actions, perhaps severing his head would be great, treating him like the subhuman he is, .. but then that would lower us to his level, and is not prudent. However, his treatment should be below that of a dog, as the latter is above him on the evolutionary scale!

[mo005]

Shove a cheese ball up his butt and tie him to a fence naked at the pound.

[star2510]

MAY be charged with animal cruelty?? Why not ABSOLUTLY will be charged with animal cruelty and human cruelty for putting that poor girl thru that awful moment. That guys gonads should be covered in meat paste and then turn loose a pack of hungry dogs on him...... THAT is not love, I agree...serial killer in training.... get him now while the getting is good.

[zoroastor]

Hey, where are all the posters that commented on the original story and said they thought the girl did it herself?

24 after a 17 yr old???

The age gap isnt a big deal in itself, but when the girl is 17 and you throw in the severed dogs head thing, this dude is a disturbed individual.

what a psycho!

[prcdr]

Serial killer in training?