A San Carlos woman's rescue dog was found dead inside a fenced yard, and she is hoping to find out who did it and for what reason.
At Hayley Rouhana's home on Tuxedo Road, the dogs are only allowed to play in the yard when she or her wife is home.
"It's just the way it has to be. I'm not coming home to another dead dog," said Rouhana.
It's been like that since the night of May 4, when Rouhana arrived home, but Mr. Smith -- a schnauzer poodle mix she rescued two years ago -- didn't greet her.
In the side yard, Rouhana saw him.
"I was hysterical. I collapsed. I was irrationally yelling at the ants to get off him," said Rouhana.
Lying on the ground was her dead 3-year-old dog, and in his belly was a tiny hole.
"It was even smaller than the size of a pea," said Rouhana.
The veterinarian told her a puncture wound damaged Mr. Smith's lungs.
The veterinarian also ruled out an animal bite. A quick look around ruled out anything in the yard.
However, when someone showed Rouhana a photo of a pit bull's wound from 9mm round, her heart sank.
"It was exactly the same, the same size. And fact that it's cauterized around edges, and no blood …," said Rouhana.
Rouhana, who regrets not getting a necropsy, now believes the killer lurked in a city owned open area outside her backyard.
"It's so cruel. It makes me sick to think the dogs were happy to see somebody, went to the fence and somebody took that opportunity to destroy something," said Rouhana.
Rouhana hopes a witness will help track down a dog killer.
"I don't want this to happen to my other dogs or anyone else's dogs," said Rouhana.
Rouhana also found an odd circular wound on another of her dogs around the same time, possibly a bullet grazing the skin.
A possible motive? Some of her dogs do bark if someone walks by, but Rouhana said she hasn't received any recent complaints.
If you have information, you are urged to call San Diego police.
