Owners thank public as reward grows for dogs' killers

The phone message Sunday from an SPCA officer was unfathomable: Two dogs had been found dead, and seemed to match the description of two pets reported missing several hours earlier.

"I remember thinking: This can't be my dogs," said James Milliner, one of the owners who received the call.

Milliner, joined by his girlfriend, Laura Peperato, and his cousin, Paul Bartholomew, spoke for the first time publicly yesterday about their ordeal at the 100-acre farm in Pocopson Township where all three reside.

Their goal: thanking the public for an outpouring of support and help in trying to apprehend whoever killed Emma, their 11/2-year-old German shorthaired pointer, and Luna, their 2-year-old mix of German shorthaired pointer and golden retriever.

The dogs were found about six miles away in Pennsbury Township; they had been shot between the eyes at close range and positioned tail to tail along railroad tracks near Brintons Bridge Road, a country road that winds along the Brandywine Creek.

Describing themselves as "heartbroken," the three issued a plea for anyone with information about the crimes to come forward. They expressed fear that other people's pets could be victimized.

"We don't want this to happen to anyone else," said Peperato, 30, who works in the health-care industry.

They also would like to know why this happened, but they don't expect to understand the motivation.

"They must have something wrong with them . . . a sick person," said Bartholomew, 25. "It certainly doesn't make any sense."

He said the dogs were chosen carefully for their gentle dispositions, because his and Milliner's grandparents, both in their 90s, also live on the farm. Luna was acquired first, when she was 8 weeks old. She proved such a positive addition that they added Emma a year ago, he said.

"You couldn't ask for better dogs," said Milliner, adding that the pair quickly became inseparable and endeared themselves to everyone from neighbors to the UPS driver.

Milliner, 30, who works for a manufacturing company, said the only time he ever got in a car to search for the dogs was the day he reported them missing.

He described the property, which has been in the family for 50 years, as an estate farm, rather than a working one.

Despite that, Bartholomew, who runs a consulting business from home, said the dogs always found plenty of chores - from deterring deer in the garden to discouraging groundhogs from digging holes in the horse pasture.

"Now it feels empty out here during the day," he said.

Bartholomew said suggestions that they or the dogs might have had enemies are baseless.

"There can't be anything further from the truth," he said. "A random act of cruelty" is a more likely scenario, he added.

Could the dogs have been coaxed into a vehicle?

"Very easily," Milliner said. "They were very obedient; if anyone called them, they would come."

Cheryl Shaw, one of three officers from the Chester County SPCA working the case with assistance from state police at the Avondale barracks, said that investigators were following up numerous leads, but that nothing had proved promising yet.

One witness reported seeing a dark red Ford F-150 pickup truck with a cap, parked along Brintons Bridge Road with lights flashing sometime between 1 and 3 p.m. Sunday, near where the dogs' bodies were found. Shaw said investigators would like to talk to the vehicle's owner.

Thanks to numerous donations, the reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of whoever committed the crimes has increased from $500 to $15,000, said Rich Britton, a Chester County SPCA spokesman.

Anyone interested in contributing may call the Chester County SPCA at 610-692-6113, Ext. 215. Checks made out to CCSPCA can be mailed to the agency at 1212 Phoenixville Pike, West Chester, Pa. 19380.