JERSEY CITY - Shadow the boxer and Bella the bulldog were 5-year-old Julianna's best friends. The dogs were protective of the young girl, once scaring away an opossum while she played in the backyard of her home.

But now Julianna is left heartbroken with both of the dogs dying during the same weekend, and her family suspects their beloved pets were intentionally killed.

Last month, Melissa Koytrouis noticed Shadow was sick. She soon found stacks of rat poison had been thrown in the side alleyway of her home on Tuers Avenue, where Shadow eats his food. Shadow was treated at the vet for eating the poison, but a few days later died.

Bella, too, soon fell ill, and died the same weekend as Shadow, Koytrouis said.

Julianna has been devastated since the dogs died.

"Why did somebody want to break my heart," Julianna asked her mother. "Somebody doesn't like me. I should have watched them eat. Now I have no best friends."

The family said this was no accident and a police report has been filed. Neighbors said detectives came to their homes looking for any video that may have captured someone throwing the rat poison into the alleyway.

Shadow would bark every once in a while when he was outside, but he was never nuisance to anyone. Bella preferred staying inside, Kovtrouis said.

A sign now hangs from the gate in front of the family's home asking for anyone with information about the dogs' deaths to contact 201-705-0030 or 201-207-8226. A GoFundMe has also been set up to help pay for the dog's medical bills.

"I'm not going to let it go," Koytrouis said. "If they think it was just a dog and it didn't bother me, I'm not going to let it go. Both dogs ... they ruined Christmas for my kids."

Caitlin Mota may be reached at cmota@jjournal.com. Follow her on Twitter @caitlin_mota. Find The Jersey Journal on Facebook.