Friday, Dec. 22, 2017

(News 12 at 6 O'Clock / NBC 26 News at 7)

AUGUSTA, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) -- Everyday, Karen Vandiver takes her dog, Georgie, for a walk around her neighborhood in Summerville.

"He loves me no matter what," said Vandiver about Georgie. "If I'm having a bad day, he's there for me. He just makes me happy."

Walking Georgie is a daily routine, but one walk a few days ago was unlike any other before.

"I stopped to look because I didn't want my dog to get into whatever IT was," said Vandiver. "That's when I saw...I saw...the animal."

She said it was in the yard of what she thought was an abandoned house on the corner of Milledge and Central in Summerville. And something about the animal she saw...was different.

"It was a furry animal," she said. "But the head was off of it. It was cut off. It wasn't making sense to me."

Wasn't making sense to her because as a psychologist, she said hurting animals is a sign of a bigger problem.

"I just can't imagine someone who could do something to an animal...a poor, defenseless animal," said Vandiver. "It's just not right."

She said she told a friend who lives right across the street. He called Richmond County Animal Services.

"A neighbor said that animal control had come and found actually two more dogs that had their heads missing, too," said Vandiver.

News 12 filed an open records request and asked animal control what they found. They haven't gotten back to us yet. But we do know that the Richmond County Sheriff's Office said the criminal investigations division is "looking into it".

"There's a special place for if you're gonna hurt animals," said Vandiver. "And it's not a good place."