Sussex family says babysitter killed their dog
SUSSEX, Wis. - A Sussex family is mourning after they say their babysitter killed their dog while watching one of their kids.
FOX6 News is not naming the family because they said they are scared for their safety. Additionally, the suspect is not being named yet because she has not yet been formally charged.
On Thursday, Jan. 25, they called a family friend to babysit their four-year-old daughter so they could attend an event for a different child.
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Batman
When they came home, the family didn't know where their dog Batman was. They said the babysitter even helped look.
"We couldn't find him at all," the father of the family said. "And then it started to sink in like, 'Okay, well, did something bad happen?'"
That worry came true the next day.
His 11-year-old daughter came home from her grandma's house and found what she thought was red paint on her bedroom wall.
"I move a stuffed animal, a blanket, and then I see his gray feet," the father said.
The Waukesha County Sheriff's Department said the dog was found with a possible stab wound and a plastic bag tied over its head.
Batman
"I just yelled on the top of my lungs, 'You killed my dog,’" the father said.
He'd been trying to get ahold of the babysitter, but she wasn't answering.
That afternoon, deputies arrested the 18-year-old babysitter for cruelty to animals.
All the family has left of its dog Batman are memories and photos.
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"[...] him sitting in his chair, the sound of his nails on the hardwood floor, the jingling of his collar," said the father of the family. "It hurts me, as a father, to know that my four-year-old daughter asks every day where Batman is, because she doesn't know."
The family believes the suspect is expected to make her initial court appearance on Monday, Jan. 29.