# Dear Minnesota dog butcher... **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [March 15, 2007, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-minnesota-dog-butcher/396091 "2007-03-15T21:35:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![buttonjockey308](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bcef8e/32.png) [@buttonjockey308](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/buttonjockey308)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2007, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-minnesota-dog-butcher/396091/81 "2007-03-19T16:28:40Z")
[QUOTE=Carnick] If you actually read that thread you’d know why. Per Giraffe’s advice, we should self moderate threads we don’t approve of. This _is_ the Pit if you haven’t noticed. How is the OP’s two lines and a link equivalent to “blowing off steam”? Looks like trolling to me. [/QUOTE] Believe me, it was blowing off steam. If I had written the kind of things I actually felt at the time, I likely would have been shown the door here. I wasn’t entirely rational when I posted, and figured that it was probably best to keep it to a minumum. I don’t troll. Period. And now that rational thought has taken over again… col\_10022, if she was that big a bully, why not just have someone kick her ass? No, this is torment, pure and simple, meant to terrorize the girl in the most medieval ways. Now, your overall premise might be right, maybe this poor girl was a horrible person, but there is NO excuse for that kind of twisted behavior. None. She didn’t, and couldn’t have ‘had it comin’ and, on the way OUTSIDE chance that she had something horrible due her, certianly the dog didn’t have anything to do with her karmic payment. Nope, I maintain that whoever did this, needs to be permanently removed from the shallow, green algae covered end of the gene pool. ---
**Author:** ![Washoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ecae2f/32.png) [@Washoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Washoe)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2007, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-minnesota-dog-butcher/396091/82 "2007-03-21T19:25:37Z")
[QUOTE=Starving Artist] She’s rather attractive and I wouldn’t be surprised if the asshole’s either an ex-boyfriend or someone who hit on her and struck out. [/QUOTE] [Looks like you might have nailed it.](http://www.crimelibrary.com/news/original/0307/2102_crystal_brown.html) And the guy is old enough for an adult prison. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Starving\_Artist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/aeb1de/32.png) [@Starving\_Artist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Starving_Artist)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2007, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-minnesota-dog-butcher/396091/83 "2007-03-21T19:58:24Z")
Thanks for the update, **Washoe**. I’m even more furious now that I know more about Crystal, and about how this asshole apparently killed the dog. I truly hope he does some serious time (with an additional bonus being that she won’t have to worry about him lurking around somewhere). I emailed Mary Lynn Smith, the St. Paul reporter linked to above, asking if a small monetary gift might perhaps provide her with a bit of diversionary fun (trip to the mall, movies with friend, CD/DVDs, etc.) and she wrote back saying that she was sure Crystal could use some money but that there were drug problems in Crystal’s family (which is why she’s living with her grandmother), and, not being sure of the family dynamics involved, she would hate to see the money go to waste. She suggested I contact the police sargeant in charge of the investigation as he is more familar with the family situation, but the only response I got from my email to him at the St. Paul police dept. was a link to the Humane Society. So, I think I’m gonna send something anyway. Mary Lynn Smith said she’d be very happy to forward whatever I might send should I decide to do so, so I think I’ll do that and take my chances that grandma will see to it that Crystal gets to keep it. It won’t be a big loss (or provide that much of a high, for that matter) should it go astray. ---
**Author:** ![Beadalin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3be4f8/32.png) [@Beadalin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beadalin)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2007, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-minnesota-dog-butcher/396091/84 "2007-03-21T21:11:28Z")
[crimelibrary.com](http://crimelibrary.com) is blocked here – would anyone mind giving a brief synopsis of **Washtoe** ’s update? ---
**Author:** ![Starving\_Artist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/aeb1de/32.png) [@Starving\_Artist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Starving_Artist)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2007, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-minnesota-dog-butcher/396091/85 "2007-03-21T21:16:05Z")
I have to leave to take care of some business right now. I’d be happy to update you this evening if you haven’t gotten sufficient info by then. ---
**Author:** ![Autolycus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/22d042/32.png) [@Autolycus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Autolycus)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2007, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-minnesota-dog-butcher/396091/86 "2007-03-21T21:20:06Z")
[QUOTE=Washoe] [Looks like you might have nailed it.](http://www.crimelibrary.com/news/original/0307/2102_crystal_brown.html) And the guy is old enough for an adult prison. 🙂 [/QUOTE] I’d nail her too. Yowza. ---
**Author:** ![Washoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ecae2f/32.png) [@Washoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Washoe)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2007, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-minnesota-dog-butcher/396091/87 "2007-03-21T22:59:33Z")
[QUOTE=Autolycus] I’d nail her too. Yowza. [/QUOTE] Tsk, tsk, tsk… ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2007, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-minnesota-dog-butcher/396091/88 "2007-03-21T23:46:23Z")
My god, I hope they nail this sicko to the wall. That poor poor girl. ---
**Author:** ![wring](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/838e76/32.png) [@wring](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wring)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2007, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-minnesota-dog-butcher/396091/89 "2007-03-21T23:54:36Z")
[QUOTE=Guinastasia] My god, I hope they nail this sicko to the wall. That poor poor girl. [/QUOTE] just wanted to let you know that I read this post, but thought I was in [this thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=8382317#post8382317) :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Starving\_Artist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/aeb1de/32.png) [@Starving\_Artist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Starving_Artist)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2007, 4:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-minnesota-dog-butcher/396091/90 "2007-03-22T04:19:54Z")
**Beadalin** , the update is by reporter David Lohr at Court TV’s _Crime Library_. According to information he has received from both Crystal’s grandmother plus a caller to his office to whom he promised anonymity, suspicion has fallen upon a man who knows Crystal and has had a crush on her for the last several months. Somehow or other this man (apparently in his late twenties/early thirties) has had Crystal over to his house from time to time and each time wouldn’t let her go until the grandmother intervened. He made a couple of suspicious calls around the time the dog disappeared saying he had seen the dog near his house and on another street. He also called the day the dog’s head was delivered (though I don’t know if it was before or after) and offered Crystal $450 for a new dog. Additionally, the dog’s head was enclosed in a box from a dialysis company and this guy’s mother had died recently after having undergone dialysis treatment. The caller to whom Lohr promised anonymity said that this same person told him gruesome details of how he had killed the dog, and that the suspect seemed to think it was funny and he appeared to be proud of it. The police are investigating but are it’s slow going as they’re having to try to get subpeonas, search warrants, etc…and this guy has apparently holed up on an Indian reservation so they’re having to try to work with law enforcement there as well. There is also sad information regarding Crystal herself. Her grandmother says she has psychological problems and her therapy dog was the only living thing she felt she could talk to and confide in. She said Crystal has always loved dogs and that she was injured at the age of nine when she darted into the street to save a dog that was about to be hit by a car. She was hit by the car instead and it broke both her legs (she did save the dog, though). She has not only been devastated by the loss of her dog and the gruesome sight of its head, but she is afraid now to go anywhere for fear that this guy or someone else will hurt her and she is plagued by nightmares. Poor kid. If it weren’t for bad luck, some people really would have no luck at all. ---
**Author:** ![Beadalin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3be4f8/32.png) [@Beadalin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beadalin)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2007, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-minnesota-dog-butcher/396091/91 "2007-03-22T14:54:43Z")
Wow. Thanks, **Starving Artist** , I appreciate the recap. Bad situation all the way around. I wonder how the guy got Crystal to his house more than once? ---
**Author:** ![Starving\_Artist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/aeb1de/32.png) [@Starving\_Artist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Starving_Artist)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2007, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-minnesota-dog-butcher/396091/92 "2007-03-22T15:46:40Z")
You’re welcome. And yes, I’ve wondered about that myself. Sometimes these guys try to come on as friends, then get difficult. Then they apologize, try to act as friends again, then become difficult again. The grandmother has said she had thought about reporting him before and now feels badly that she didn’t, so it sounds like perhaps she had been trying to give him the benefit of the doubt. Just a WAG, of course. ---
**Author:** ![Washoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ecae2f/32.png) [@Washoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Washoe)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2007, 6:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-minnesota-dog-butcher/396091/93 "2007-03-23T06:48:51Z")
[An arrest has been made.](http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/news/nation/16956630.htm) ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2007, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-minnesota-dog-butcher/396091/94 "2007-03-23T13:21:49Z")
**Starving Artist** , what was that address again to send cards and such? ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2007, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-minnesota-dog-butcher/396091/95 "2007-03-23T14:11:35Z")
Hell hath no fury like a creepy sociopath scorned. ---
**Author:** ![joyfool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/df788c/32.png) [@joyfool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joyfool)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2007, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-minnesota-dog-butcher/396091/96 "2007-03-23T14:48:40Z")
[QUOTE=Guinastasia] **Starving Artist** , what was that address again to send cards and such? [/QUOTE] Here’s the one from the Crime Library: Crystal Brown c/o The Humane Society of the United States 2100 L Street N.W. Washington, DC. 20037. ---
**Author:** ![Starving\_Artist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/aeb1de/32.png) [@Starving\_Artist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Starving_Artist)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2007, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-minnesota-dog-butcher/396091/97 "2007-03-23T17:41:15Z")
[QUOTE=Guinastasia] **Starving Artist** , what was that address again to send cards and such? [/QUOTE] I don’t know why exactly, but I think I would rather them through Mary Lynn Smith (the original reporter) rather than the Humane Society. I have the impression that items sent through her would likely reach Crystal more quickly and in a more personal way. I’m also unsure what the arrangement is regarding monetary gifts, but the reward the Humane Society has been offering has gone from $2,500 to $20,000, and I’m not sure that if you send a monetary gift it would wind up going to the Humane Society rather than Crystal herself. The address for forwarding through the reporter is: Crystal Brown c/o Mary Lynn Smith Star Tribune Lowry Building, Suite 240 350 St. Peter St . St. Paul , MN 55102 I’m glad to see through the article linked to by **Washoe** (and thanks very much for the good news, **Washoe**! 🙂 ) that the response she has received has inspired her and shown her that there are good people out there in the world. It sounds like this poor kid needs all the positive reinforcement she can get. ---
**Author:** ![NurseCarmen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/5daacb/32.png) [@NurseCarmen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NurseCarmen)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2007, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-minnesota-dog-butcher/396091/98 "2007-03-23T19:14:33Z")
Dumb criminals. Making prosecution easy since 1973 B.C. > [@](#): > > A St. Paul man charged today with killing a girl’s companion dog because the girl had spurned his attentions had a cell phone with video clips showing the dog being decapitated with a chain saw, according to a criminal complaint. -St. Paul Pioneer Press. ---
**Author:** ![Long\_Time\_Lurker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/2bfe46/32.png) [@Long\_Time\_Lurker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Long_Time_Lurker)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2007, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-minnesota-dog-butcher/396091/99 "2007-03-23T20:22:14Z")
[QUOTE=OtakuLoki] However, I don’t think that there are nice, simple legal terms for that other than ‘terroristic behavior.’ [/QUOTE] Intentional infliction of emotional distress. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2007, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-minnesota-dog-butcher/396091/100 "2007-03-24T00:14:23Z")
Thanks, **Shodan** and **faithfool**. I’ll be looking for a good sympathy card. The whole thing just makes my blood boil. Here’s hoping that the new pup, Diesel, will be as good to her as Chevy was. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-minnesota-dog-butcher/396091.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-minnesota-dog-butcher/396091.md?page=6)