A Newtown Township man allegedly abused his two pet dogs for hours before fatally stabbing them and leaving a bloody scene at his home earlier this month, Bucks County prosecutors said Wednesday.
The gruesome discovery was made on the afternoon of Jan. 18, investigators said. George Gooch Ash, 40, called 911 to report that he had killed the pets using a kitchen knife.
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One of the dogs was a 9-year-old female beagle-collie mix, named Shyla, and the other was a 7-year-old beagle-labrador mix named Blake, authorities said.
“To say the defendant’s actions were inhumane is an understatement. They were sadistic,” Bucks County District Attorney Jennifer Schorn said at a press conference Wednesday.
When Ash called 911, police said he told the dispatcher he had killed his pets because he was angry after a visit with his mother at a nursing home earlier in the day. Ash said he took his feelings out on the dogs when he got home, kicking and hitting them before turning more violent, prosecutors said. He also said he had stabbed himself several times before calling 911.
“He believed he was belittled by a family member, who he had just recently visited, so he came home and for hours beat his two dogs,” Schorn said. “And that was not enough.”
When police arrived, Ash was standing in the driveway with dark, blood stains on his clothes, investigators said. He was taken to St. Mary Medical Center to be treated for non-life-threatening injuries.
Inside the residence, Newtown police found pools of blood throughout the first floor, including in a dog bed. The two pets were found dead next to one another near the kitchen, each with multiple puncture and slash wounds to the torso, police said.
The blade of the first knife Ash wielded became lodged inside the male dog and broke off. Ash allegedly then grabbed a larger chef’s knife with an 8-inch blade, police said. Investigators found it wrapped in a bloody rag in the kitchen sink.
The Bucks County SPCA and humane law officers assisted in the investigation.
“Our mission will always be to end animal suffering in Bucks County,” Linda Reider, executive director of the Bucks County SPCA, said at Wednesday’s press conference. “To that end, we are working with Newtown Township Police and the Bucks County District Attorney to gain justice for Shyla and Blake, two beagles who were tragically and horrifically killed by someone they knew well.”
Ash remains hospitalized. He faces charges of aggravated cruelty to animals and related offenses. Schorn said, all totaled, the charges have a maximum possible sentence of up to 18 years in prison.
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