Authorities say they arrested a man whose girlfriend claimed he killed three of her puppies after they got into an argument.
Tayon L. Alexander, 20, was arrested and faces three counts of animal cruelty charges, according to Marion County Jail records. A jail official said Alexander was released on $6,000 bond on Thursday.
When an officer got the house Alexander and Brianna D. Mattern, 20, shared, no one was home. A little later, Mattern returned and said she had been burying one of her puppies in the woods.
Inside the home, the officer found what looked like an 8-week-old puppy dead on the living room floor, with blood coming from its ear, the incident report said.
"I didn't want to get him in trouble," Mattern said about her boyfriend Alexander after the officer saw the dead puppy, according to the report.
Mattern said they had gotten into fight and her boyfriend complained that she had not mopped the floor and that he was tired of the mess that the dogs made, the report said.
She said he started yelling and throwing objects, came into the bedroom and told her, "I threw the dog down and it's dead," according to the report.
Police found two other dead puppies in the home, one underneath the kitchen sink and another under the couch, according to the report. Another puppy was found alive but later died.
An additional three live puppies were also in the home, two of which were hiding behind the bathroom toilet, the report said. The mother dog was outside eating garbage from several bags spread throughout the yard.
Mattern told police that the puppies were fine before the argument, the report said. Necropsies will be performed on the dead ones.
It wasn't known if Alexander had an attorney.
