UPDATE 7/21/23 10 a.m.
Thomas Middaugh, 43, will be sentenced Monday for killing a neighbor’s Labrador retriever and dismembering it.
Middaugh was arrested in March on charges of killing/torturing an animal, as well as habitual offender third notice. He pled guilty in May to an added charge of animal cruelty – attempting to kill or torture animals in the third degree - and the initial charge of animal killing was dropped as part of the plea.
3/9/23
Michigan State Police Cadillac Post said a Buckley man has been arrested for torturing and killing a dog.
Around 11 a.m. on Feb. 4, a trooper responded to a report of dog being killed at a residence in Wexford Township.
The trooper spoke with the dog’s owner, who said his 7-year-old black lab Bear had wandered off the property the evening of Feb. 3. He and his wife followed the dog’s tracks to a neighbor’s property but couldn’t find the dog, troopers said.
The following morning, they continued the search and found an area in the snow where they could see where their dog had circled and stopped, and there also was a pool of blood in the snow, troopers said. Tire tracks also were seen.
Upon investigation, troopers said that the property owner, 43-year-old Thomas William Middaugh, of Buckley, had shot the dog multiple times with a .22 caliber rifle. He then cut the head and legs off the dog, wrapped it in a tarp and put it inside a box that he hid inside his barn, troopers said.
A report was submitted to the Wexford County Prosecutor’s Office, and an arrest warrant was issued on March 6. Troopers contacted Middaugh, and he surrendered to troopers.
He is charged with one count of killing/torturing an animal, as well as habitual offender third notice. His next scheduled court appearance is on March 28.
