Castaic man kills pets with spear, dog corpse burned, deputies say
A Castaic man was in custody for allegedly killing his family dog and cat by stabbing them with a spear-like weapon and later setting the dog’s corpse on fire, sheriff’s officials said Thursday.
Jared Foster, 23, was taken into custody Wednesday night after his brother told deputies he had returned home to find the suspect acting irrationally and aggressively, officials said. Fearing for his safety, the brother left the house and called the Santa Clarita Valley sheriff’s station.
Deputies went to the home and found the dead dog that had been set on fire in the backyard of the home on North Ridge Top Lane.
They were able to talk Foster into coming out of the house and giving up without incident, said officials with the L.A. County Sheriff’s Department.
When deputies entered the house, they found a cat that had been killed with a sharp object, likely a spear the suspect had fashioned from a broom stick and a large kitchen knife. The dog had also been stabbed with the instrument.
Officials said the suspect lived in the home with his parents and brother. The parents were out of town at the time.
[For the Record, 10:05 a.m. PDT, June 20, 2013: An earlier version of this post and its headline failed to note that the dog had been stabbed to death before it was set on fire.]
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