A loyal dog who refused to leave his deceased owner’s side helped solve a murder case by helping detectives identify the body, prosecutors said.
Mandy Rose Reynolds, 26, was shot before her body was “burned beyond recognition” in a wildfire in Robinson, Texas. She was found by police on April 5, 2023, according to a release from the McLennan County District Attorney’s Office.
Her cousin, Derek Daigneault, 29, of Wichita, Kansas, was sentenced to life in prison for murder on Nov. 7 after a two-state investigation, according to the prosecutor’s office.
And one of the keys to identifying Reynolds was her white-haired Labradoodle, Titan.
Police found Titan “frantically” howling near her body. He refused to leave the area and did not allow police to arrest him, prosecutors said.
The next morning, the body was removed, but a passerby found Titan sitting in the same spot. The Good Samaritan called Robinson Animal Control, who determined Titan had a microchip and belonged to Reynolds.
“The key to this case was a heroic and loyal dog named Titan and extraordinary cooperation between law enforcement agencies in multiple jurisdictions and states. This combination ensured that justice was brought to Mandy. “This crime brought safety from a violent and dangerous criminal,” Assistant District Attorneys Ryan Calvert and Alyssa Killin said in a statement.
Robinson police later learned that Reynolds lived in San Marcos, Texas. San Marcos police were contacted and went to her home, but found it completely empty, all of her belongings removed and her black Honda Accord missing, the news release said.
A license plate database revealed the car was located somewhere in Wichita, Kansas.
Wichita Police received a tip, spotted her car on April 8, 2023, and attempted to pull it over.
But with Daigneault behind the wheel, the attempted stop lasted nearly 30 minutes and ended in a high-speed chase reaching speeds of more than 100 miles per hour.
The Honda Accord eventually crashed into another car, and Daigneault fled on foot to a nearby grocery store, where he “hid in a shelf behind canned goods,” the prosecutor’s office said.
When police searched Reynolds’ car in Wichita, they found a .380 handgun on the driver’s floorboard.
Meanwhile, local police back in Robinson determined that the body had been burned in a large plastic storage container, where police found a .380 shell casing that had been fired, the statement said. Ta.
Surveillance video footage from a Walmart in San Marcos, Texas, shows Daigneault purchasing the same large plastic storage container, shovel, and gas can that the Reynolds boy was burned in on the morning of April 4, 2023. It was shown that he was doing so. The video also showed him leaving the store. When they got into Reynolds’ car, Titan stuck his head out the car window.
Eventually, the coroner officially identified the body as Reynolds through dental records. She was found to have died from a gunshot wound to the head, and a .380 bullet was recovered from her body.
The Texas Department of Public Safety crime lab confirmed that both the bullets found in her body and the shell casings found by Robinson police were fired from a handgun Daigneault was carrying, prosecutors said. announced.
Daigneault’s attorney, Jason P. Darling, said Tuesday: “Derek is clearly disappointed in the verdict and sentence. We appreciate the jury’s work and effort in this case, but Derek intends to appeal the verdict and has already filed a notice of appeal. ”
As for Titan, the pup was adopted by Reynolds’ best friend days after her death. “He’s doing great!” Calvert told NBC News on Tuesday.
