A labradoodle dog that wouldn’t leave his burned-out owner’s body after she was brutally murdered was the missing piece that helped police find her body and the person who killed her.
The dog was found barking nonstop at the body of a woman in a field in Robinson, Texas, on April 5, 2023, according to the McLennan County District Attorney’s Office on Friday.
Derek Daigneault, 29, was given a life sentence Thursday for the murder of his cousin Mandy Rose Reynolds, 26. Reynolds was from San Marcos, Texas.
The McLennan County District Attorney’s Office says that when Robinson police reacted to calls of a “brush fire” on Heston Circle in April 2023, they found a body that was “burned beyond recognition.” However, dental records showed that the body belonged to Reynolds.
A small, fluffy labradoodle named Titan stood guard over her body and barked at cops, refusing to leave the area or be confined.
The next morning, after Reynolds’ body was found, Titan stayed where the body had been burning, which led a nearby resident to call Robinson Animal Control.
The police then found Titan’s microchip, which helped them figure out that Reynolds owned Titan.
MCDAO said that when police went to Reynolds’ house, they saw that her things had been strewn around and that her black Honda Accord was stolen.
Only when the police looked at the Honda’s license plate did they find out that it was in Wichita, Texas. The Wichita Police Department saw Reynold’s car and tried to pull it over three days after her body was found on fire. But the driver made a dash, and cops say they chased them at 100 mph for almost 30 minutes.
The driver was being chased very quickly until he crashed into another car. He then ran into a nearby grocery store and “hid on a shelf behind canned goods” until police caught him.
Derek Daigneault, Reynold’s cousin, was named as the driver.
Although the police were still looking into it, they found a.380 handgun under the driver’s seat of Reynolds’s car.
Police in San Marcos also got a security video from Walmart that showed when Daigneault bought a plastic container, a shovel, and a gas can.
The woman’s body was found burned inside a big plastic storage container that looked just like the one that was bought at Walmart, as well as a shell casing that looked just like the one that was bought at Walmart.380 gun was also set on fire in the same container, the news statement said.
On April 7, 2023, just a few miles from the woman’s home, all of her things were found in an abandoned truck.
After Daigneault was given a life sentence, the suspect called out to accuse the victim’s brother of a crime while Reynold’s family gave their victim impact statements, KWTX reported. This caused chaos in the courtroom.
The victims’ family then got into a fight on one side of the room, while Daigneault’s brother-in-law, mother, and sister fought back on the other. KWTX reported that the police finally calmed things down and took Daigneault to prison.
Assistant District Attorneys Ryan Calvert and Alyssa Killin said, “A brave and loyal dog named Titan and amazing cooperation between law enforcement agencies in many places and states were the keys to this case.”
That combo got Mandy what she was due and kept her safe from a violent and dangerous criminal.
Source: Woman was burned to death in Texas and a loyal labradoodle helped police identify her killer
