Charges: Twin Cities Woman Stabbed Fiance’s Dog To Death

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MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) — A Twin Cities woman is accused of stabbing her fiance’s dog to death late last month.

Barbara Crosby, 46, of Burnsville, is charged with one felony count of mistreatment of animals, court documents filed in Dakota County show.

According to a criminal complaint, police found the dog on March 27 dead near a walking trail in Lakeville. The Labrador retriever had apparently been stabbed and left leashed to a tree.

A necropsy on the dog found that it died of multiple stab wounds. Veterinarians at the University of Minnesota also noticed that the animal had been injected with a mix of opioid painkillers and anxiety medication. One of the drugs found in the dog’s blood was prescribed to Crosby.

Investigators learned that Crosby was with the dog in the hours before its death. She left a note for her fiance, saying that she was taking the dog for a walk that morning.

When Crosby later spoke to officers, they noticed that she had scratches on her hands, consistent with scratches from a dog, the complaint states. Officers also found multiple items of her clothing near where the dog was killed. The clothes were spotted with blood that was not of human origin.

According to investigators, multiple sources reported that it was well known that Crosby did not like the dog. Whenever the animal was around her, she’d push it away, the sources said. They added that she would refer to the animal with negative names, and rarely walked it.

After the dog died, Crosby allegedly told one of her fiance’s relatives that she had previously wished the dog would die in its sleep or just disappear, so as to take the burden off her and her fiance.

If convicted of the animal cruelty charge, Crosby faces up to two years in prison and/or a $5,000 fine.

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