Family looks for justice after missing dogs are killed near Minnesota state park

BAUDETTE, Minn. — A Minnesota family is trying to find justice for their fur babies after they say someone shot and killed their dogs over the holidays.

The family came north from Minneapolis to visit relatives in Baudette in Lake of the Woods County.

On Christmas Eve, the Stangler family took their three huskies on a hike at Zippel Bay State Park.

As they were readjusting the dogs leashes: “Two of them became separated and ran off. I don’t know what they were chasing,” Sally McKinney, a relative of the Stangler family, said.

When they couldn’t find the dogs the day after Christmas, McKinney got involved. She began reaching out for help on social media.

“That’s when I got hooked into the two agencies that helped us, The Retrievers of Minnesota, as well as Lost Dogs Minnesota,” McKinney said.

Alongside local volunteers, they helped her put out missing fliers about the dogs. Two sightings came in, she said, including from the Birch Beach area north of Zippel Bay State Park.

About 48 hours later, she says an anonymous call came into the Baudette Police Department about the dogs being found dead from apparent gunshots.

“The caller had stated they thought they saw car marks off into the ditch, and so they wanted to make sure a vehicle didn’t run off the road. That’s when they noticed two dogs, called it in,” McKinney said.

Cassie Bledsoe, 30, was one of the local volunteers who was there to help retrieve the dogs.

“They had been there a day or two, for sure, because they were frozen in the ditch. So I went down, and we as carefully as we could, chipped away the ice around so that we could get them out. And I hadn’t cried that much in a long, a long time,” Bledsoe said.

All they could do then is file a police report.

The family is urging the community to check cameras for any footage in hopes of finding out who shot the two huskies.

“When your pets are missing, there’s partial closure knowing they’re identified, but there can never be any real closure without understanding (of why it happened),” McKinney said.

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