Two New Hampshire women admit to drowning dachshund

KITTERY – A Portsmouth, N.H., woman, is accused of faking a robbery at her boyfriend’s home, stealing his dog and drowning it.

Erin Wylie, 27, and Shannon Walters, 34, of Newmarket, N.H., were accused of breaking into the home of Wylie’s boyfriend in Eliot on Friday night and taking a laptop computer, a camera and the dog.

Police said the women drowned the 2-year-old dachshund named Dewey because Wylie didn’t like the dog.

“They’ve confessed,” said Kittery Sgt. Charles Denault. “It was all staged. [Wylie] got a friend to help. The whole point was to kill the dog.”

The women have been charged with burglary and receiving stolen property and may face animal cruelty charges, police said.

Police charged that the women took the dog to Wylie’s home, filled a bathtub with water and drowned the dog.

The women were arrested in the parking lot of a restaurant in Kittery. Police alleged they were discussing how to dispose of the remains of the dog. Police said they found the dog’s remains.

They were released on bail and scheduled to appear in court July 29

Police in Newmarket also were investigating and said additional charges may be filed in New Hampshire.

The owner of the dog, Pat Collins, told television station WMUR he can’t believe what happened.

“I don’t know what to say about her. She’s my best friend,” he said of Wylie, his girlfriend of two years.

“I wish she could give me some sort of explanation. I don’t know if she was jealous of him. I don’t know how you could be jealous of a little dog,” he said.

Collins said the dog waited to greet him every day when he came home for work.

“I just loved him so much,” he said.

The women could not be reached for comment.