By David Lohr

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March 21, 2007

ST. PAUL, Minn. (Crime Library) —   On Monday, I brought you the story of 17-year-old Crystal Brown and the brutal killing of her special needs therapy dog, Chevy.  Yesterday, I spoke with Crystal's grandmother, Shirley Brown, about the incident and learned several new details about the case.

"Somebody's going to pay for killing this dog," Shirley said.  "Maybe it is nothing to them, but it meant everything to my granddaughter.  It tore the heart right out of her."

According to Shirley, Crystal suffers from psychological problems, and the dog was used as part of her therapy.  Crystal would open up to the dog and share thoughts and feelings she was not comfortable telling others.  The two were, according to Crystal's grandmother, "best friends."

"This kid has been a dog lover since she was a little kid.  She even got hit by a car trying to save a dog when she was nine-years-old.  She ran out in the street in front of a car and grabbed a dog.  The car hit her and broke her legs, but she saved the dog.  This is how she is: she loves animals."

Everything changed for Crystal on February 7 when her grandmother let her dog out to relieve himself, and he never returned.

"I had a house full of company.  I let the dog out to go potty.  Usually, he would come right back when I called him, but that day he didn't.  It was really cold that day, and he took off down the street.  I kept calling him and calling him, but he wouldn't come back.  I'm really slow cause my knees are bad, and I have a hard time walking.  I got in my car and headed the way the dog had run.  I searched for about an hour, and then I went to pick up my granddaughter to have her help, but we couldn't find him anywhere."

By Valentine's Day, Crystal was at her wits' end and started hanging "missing" posters all over her neighborhood.  Then on February 27, her whole world was shattered.

"When I came home, there was a white bag at the foot of my steps, and in the bag was a box all gift wrapped.  So I picked up the package, took it in the bedroom, and put it on Crystal's dresser.  Crystal was staying the night at a friend's house, so it stayed there overnight and into the next day until she came home from school.  When she got home, I told her there was a package on her dresser that was a gift from somebody, and she went in there to open it up, and she came out, and she was hysterical.  She said, 'Grandma, Grandma!' She was shaking and hysterical, and she said, 'My dog's head is in that box.'  I said, 'No, Crystal. It can't be.'  I couldn't believe it.  I didn't want to believe it.  And the moment she opened the box, my house filled with this odor of death, and it stunk in my house for four days.  I sprayed everything I could find, I opened all the windows, and it was just horrible.  It wouldn't go away." 

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Contact  David Lohr at           crimewriter74@hughes.net

Crystal Brown Finds Murdered Pet in a Gift-wrapped Box

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