FAMILY SAYS DOG KILLED BY COUSIN CAN'T BE REPLACED !!!

[Daanyeer]

Source: http://www.wcnc.com/news/local/stories/ ... 3.html?npc

Thursday, July 23, 2009

By ANN SHERIDAN / NewsChannel 36



YORK COUNTY, S.C. -- Jennifer McAlister has a picture frame full of the dogs she’s loved. But she loved her dog Buddy, the most.

“He was such a good puppy, a sweet puppy,” she said.

She bought the lab for her son Gage on his birthday. He picked it out and named it on his own. The little boy and the active puppy became fast friends. But on Saturday Buddy was missing.

Now investigators say Buddy was killed in a crime that is hard to understand. Police say the dog’s body was cut up and mutilated by Gage’s own cousin, James McAlister.

“We were walking and he said, ‘you know I murdered your sister’s dog,’” said Brittany McAlister, Jennifer McAlister’s sister.

Brittany McAlister says her cousin admitted he used a chainsaw to torture and kill Buddy.

The family isn't telling Gage what happened.

But they are speaking out, trying to keep the dog’s memory alive. Jennifer McAlister says she doesn’t want to get her son another dog because Buddy cannot be replaced. Gage says he doesn’t want another dog.

“How can you replace a dog like that? Big green eyes and a pink nose. You can’t find a dog like that,” she said.

James McAlister is in jail in York County. He’s charged with stealing a dog and ill treatment of a dog.