Portland Crime Alert: Another Dog Killed in Southeast Portland

Portland Police are investigating the murder of a dog that happened two weeks ago in Southeast Portland.

Police say they were contacted by a 19-year-old woman on Wednesday.

She said her dog, Laika, was with two other dogs in the backyard of her home on the 6600 block of SE 83rd Avenue on April 1.

The next morning, Laika was gone.

"It appeared that someone opened the front gate to access the back gate and took Laika, leaving the back gate open, but closing the front gate behind them," police said in a statement.

The woman said she started her own investigation, "talking to anyone who would listen, including neighbors, strangers, and homeless people," police said.

The woman told police that she learned that a homeless person known as "Kim" had been seen with Laika around the Springwater Corridor and at stores in the area.

Kim had also allegedly boasted about stealing the dog because she thought it was cute.

The woman's investigation eventually led her to the Corridor by Beggar's Tick Park where she found homeless people who told her that Laika had drowned and took her to where she was buried.

The woman dug a deeper grave for her dog.

When police asked her why she had waited to report the incident, she replied that she had been too upset and it had not occurred to her to call the police.

Police went the next day and did not find the campsite that the woman had described.

"It actually appeared to the officer that the park had been cleared out, as the campsites that he'd become familiar with were now also gone," police said.

Police are hoping that someone knows "Kim" or the other homeless people in the area.

Last week, in an area not far from this incident, a car was stolen with a dog inside. That car was later found with the dog inside, dead.

Two people were arrested in connection with that incident.

For more on that, read here.