Police question ex-boyfriend in dog found in oven case
Authorities have labeled the 39-year-old ex-boyfriend of an Arlington Heights woman a “person of interest” in the burglary of her home after which the family’s pet dog was found dead in a convection oven.
The ex-boyfriend, a Lincolnshire resident, was interviewed by Arlington Heights police July 5 — a day after the woman and her two children returned to their home on the 1500 block of West Roanoke Drive to find it torn apart, with their pet Cavachon, Coco, dead in the oven.
However, the man was released by police July 7 after investigators deemed there wasn’t enough evidence to bring charges against him, Police Sgt. Rick Kappelman said Friday.
The man was previously arrested as the result of a domestic situation involving the family, Kappelman said.
The ex-boyfriend was still being labeled a “person of interest” Friday, despite the lack of evidence tying him to the burglary and killing of the dog.
Kappelman said there’s been no other significant leads in the case.
Police have said the burglary, in which approximately $3,000 worth of jewelry was stolen, most likely occurred between the night of July 3 and the morning of July 4, since a neighbor had checked on the house and the dog July 3. The mother and her two children were out of town for the Fourth of July holiday.
A necropsy was done by the University of Illinois College of Veterinary Medicine, though police haven’t said if the dog was alive when it was placed in the oven.
“We do know the dog was placed in the oven and the oven was turned on,” Kappelman said. “Whether the dog was alive at the time when it was placed in the oven we don’t know.”