Missing Dog Case Takes Cruel Turn

Philly police have arrested a 15-year-old in the case of a gentle brown dog whose disappearance led to a cruel chain of events for her owner. The youth and others called up the distraught owner after Edna's disappearance, demanded a ransom, then made a dog yelp in pain as he listened, the Philadelphia Daily News reports. Hours later, they called back to say they had killed Edna, whose fate remains unknown.

"I couldn't believe how evil he was," says Bill Whiting of the phone call. "He said, 'You know, Mister, I want to kill your dog.' " Police tracked the phone calls to the juvenile's house. It remains unclear if he ever had Edna, but Whiting says the number for his land line, on which he received the final call, was on her tags, the AP notes. (More Philadelphia stories.)