Oklahoman Skinned Puppy for Belt: Cops

'6- or 7-week-old defenseless' dog was gift from ex-lover
By Wesley Oliver,  Newser Staff
Posted Jun 20, 2009 4:14 PM CDT
Oklahoman Skinned Puppy for Belt: Cops
Authorities say Krystal Lynn Lewis hired a friend to kill her puppy so she could use its hide to make a belt.   (AP Photo/Muskogee County Sheriff's Dept. via The Daily Oklahoman)

Oklahoma authorities say a woman had her puppy murdered to make a belt from its hide, the Oklahoman reports. Krystal Lynn Lewis, 23, allegedly hired a friend to kill her Jack Russell terrier. Police say he shot the dog 10 times with a .22-caliber pistol. “We're talking about a 6- or 7-week-old defenseless puppy,” said one official. “That's pretty heinous and sadistic.”

Lewis said she plotted the killing because she couldn’t afford her pup’s care, but cops point to a feud with an ex-lover who gave her the dog. Lewis and her friend Austin Michael Mullins, 26—who will undergo mental competency testing—are charged with one felony count of animal cruelty. Muskogee County is holding them on $25,000 bail.
(More Oklahoma stories.)

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