Time and time again, dogs prove to us that their loyalty to their hoomans knows no bounds – even after death.
And in another display of their loyalty to us, a pet dog helped uncover the 2023 murder of her owner and lent a helping paw to the police in identifying the woman’s killer.
Mandy Rose Reynolds, a 26-year-old woman from Idaho, was “burned beyond recognition” on April 05, 2023.
According to the McLennan County District Attorney’s Office’s press release, when Robinsons Police responded to the incident, they found a dog near the brush fire.
The press release described the dog as “a white dog which barked frantically at officers and refused to leave the area of the body, but also refused to allow police to capture it.”
After evading capture, the dog remained in the area, even after the body had been removed.
The press release reveals, “a citizen found the dog sitting at the spot the burning body had been the night before.”
The citizen then notified Animal Control of the dog, which then discovered the dog, named Titan, was microchipped and belonged to Reynolds.
Thanks to Titan’s microchip information, Robinsons Police started suspecting that the burned body belonged to Reynolds.
The police then found that the victim lives in San Marcos, Texas. “Police in San Marcos were contacted and officers there went to Reynolds’ residence to look for her.”
Upon entering Reynolds’ apartment, the police found it completely empty, with her possessions removed and her car, a black Honda Accord, missing.
The police then ran Reynolds’s vehicle through a license plate reader database and discovered that the car was somewhere in Wichita, Kansas.
On April 08, 2023, Wichita Police officers spotted Reynolds’ car and attempted to pull it over. It then led into a high speed chase that ended up in a car crash.
The driver of the car tried to flee the crash to a nearby grocery store. Luckily, the police caught the driver, revealing it to be Reynolds’ cousin and killer, Derek Daigneault.
Inside Reynolds’ car, they found a .380 handgun, which matched the .380 shell casing that was found on the scene.
Furthermore, Robinsons Police determined that, after dying from a gunshot wound to the head, Reynolds’ body was burned inside a large plastic storage container.
After a year of investigation, the case finally comes to a close on November 07, 2024, when Daigneault, 29, was sentenced to life in prison for the murder of his cousin, Mandy Rose Reynolds.
Assistant District Attorneys Ryan Calvert and Alyssa Killin said, “The keys to this case were a heroic and loyal dog named Titan and extraordinary cooperation between law enforcement agencies in multiple jurisdictions and states.”
“That combination has delivered justice for Mandy and safety from a violent and dangerous criminal,” the Assistant District Attorneys continued.