WINTER HARBOR,, ME — Two men in Maine who are accused of kidnapping and killing a 6-year-old pug mix named Franky whose owner thinks his dog’s death may have been retribution after the pug got into a fight with a dog owned by one of the men.
Franky disappeared from the tiny seaside town of Winter Harbor in late August and his owner, Phillip Torrey, alerted police that he thought his dog had been stolen by two friends who had worked the stern crew on his lobster fishing boat, according to news reports.
TheWinter Harbor Police Department issued arrest warrants for the two men — Nathan A. Burke, 37, of Hancock, and Justin T. Chipman, 22, of Winter Harbor — on Sept. 1. Authorities said in a news release Tuesday that Burke and Chipman turned themselves in and face charges of burglary, animal cruelty and animal mischief, unauthorized use of property, and theft. Bond was set at $5,000 cash for each.
The police department called the killing of Franky “brutal and senseless,” and said he was “a beloved Winter Harbor family pet.”
Winter Harbor Police Chief Danny Mitchell Jr. told People that “people around here are outraged” over the killing of the dog.
Torrey was attending a concert in New Hampshire when Franky was taken, according to an account on his Facebook page. When his sister went to let his dogs out for a romp the morning of Friday, Aug. 24, Franky was missing.
“Apparently, Franky must of got out late Thursday night when my sternman stopped at the house to use the bathroom,” Torrey initially theorized. “My sister and others have looked for him the last 2 days and talked to the police and called the shelters, but nothing. Nobody has seen or heard him, he just disappeared. Please message if you have any information or have seen him.”
The dog’s body, wrapped in plastic, washed up on the shoreline about a week later.
“This family pet was taken from the safety of his own home, killed and dumped in the water, wrapped in plastic,” Mitchell told People. “My goal is to get this wrapped up and get closure for the family.”
Mitchell wouldn’t speculate about a possible motive, but Torrey thinks it was revenge. Franky and Chipman’s dog got into a fight in his garage a few weeks ago and Chipman was angry about it, Torrey told People.
“Justin’s dog ran in and Franky went after him,” he said. “We had to break them up. They weigh less than 30 pounds each so it wasn’t hard. Justin was pretty mad.”
On Facebook, Torrey wrote that if Franky had been killed “by an enemy that had a vendetta maybe I could wrap my brain around it better, but not by [two] guys I considered friends.”
Franky’s human family has been buoyed by the support on social media.
“I’ve gotten messages from every state in the U.S., with people saying their kids are crying or that their hearts are breaking for my family and our dog,” Torrey told People. “It’s very touching and has completely restored my faith in humanity.”
However, commenters on social media have judged the suspects harshly, calling them “infected, reeking slime” who deserve years in jail — and even for the death penalty — if they’re convicted.
Mitchell told the Bangor newspaper that he has been tracking the social media comments directed at the suspects, but views them as an expression of outrage and not as viable threats.
“Everyone knows what social media is,” the police chief told the newspaper. “When people see there is that kind of disregard and that kind of cruelty, I believe the natural response is outrage and sadness.”
He told People that townspeople are demanding action with a #justiceforfranky hashtag on social media.
“Our community and the family need a sense of closure for this,” he told the magazine. “They need to see some sort of resolution.”
Here’s a video of Franky that Torrey posted on his Facebook:
Photo of Nathan A. Burke, left, and Justin T. Chipman via Hancock County Sheriff’s Department