Deviant Criminology
Dr. Richard Weaver Jr., Heather Kenney, and Rachel Czar take listeners on a journey through the world of true crime. With their unique careers in the criminal justice and academic world; they work to provide an entertaining and educational experience for listeners. This podcast examines many areas of true crime including; the formation of laws, cases that defined caselaw, and crimes that impacted the world. Please join us on this journey as we transition from professionals in criminal justice and academia to budding podcasters.
Deviant Criminology
Pets as Protectors: True Tales of Furry Heroes
This episode features remarkable stories of pets who acted heroically to protect their human families during attempted break-ins. From a brave German Shepherd to a relentless cat and a fearless squirrel, we explore how these animals embody loyalty and courage in the face of danger.
• Discussing the protective instincts of dogs and how they serve as guardians
• The story of Rex, a German Shepherd who defended his young owner from burglars
• Binky the cat’s unexpected but effective response to an intruder
• Joey the squirrel thwarts a burglary attempt, showcasing unconventional pet heroics
• The emotional bond between pets and their humans and its influence on protective behavior
• Exploring the importance of nurturing protective instincts in pets and appropriate training
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All right, so welcome to Deviant Criminology. I'm Richard, I'm Heather and I'm Richard.
Speaker 3:I'm Heather.
Speaker 2:And I'm Rachel and we have Rachel back. So this is the first episode in a while we've had Rachel back, so it is great to see you. So this week we want to talk about something kind of a little bit more lighthearted as we go into this, starting to release every week thing. So one thing that I know I'm a big fan of and I have is my pets thing. So one thing that I know I'm a big fan of and I have is my pets. What we kind of want to do is kind of some weird stories where individuals have either been protected by their pets or pets have defended them from intruders and things like that.
Speaker 3:So, heather, if you want to kind of share the story you had, Sure, we often hear tales of people trying to break into houses and dogs scaring them off before the person actually enters the house. I actually have a friend who was home with her two young children when a man tried to break into their home and it was the middle of the day. Her dogs, because of how aggressive they got towards the man who was trying to break in through their door, was able to dissuade him from continuing those attempts and she immediately called the police, who fortunately responded and was able to dissuade him from continuing those attempts. And she immediately called the police, who fortunately responded, and they were able to find him later on in her neighborhood and it turned out that he was a man who had just been released from jail and was trying to find some quick and easy money.
Speaker 3:Unfortunately for us all, stories of people trying to get into homes with nefarious intent happen too often, to be honest. But fortunately for us, our dogs and other pets can oftentimes scare people away and act as a deterrent, much like a burglar alarm would. They don't necessarily stop someone, but it might make somebody decide that they want to break into a different house because your house is not worth the trouble and they'd rather go after an easy mark. So we're going to be talking today about is when our animal friends go above and beyond to protect the people they love and the sanctuary of their homes. When animals defend instead of when animals attack.
Speaker 2:That's one thing I love about having my dogs is they sound really scary because they're decent sized pit bulls. But if people knew them they'd be like oh, all I need to bring is cheese and I'm in the door. Rachel, you have like the murder chihuahuas, right?
Speaker 4:Well, we have three. One of them really is a murder chihuahua and he's 17 pounds, but he sounds really big. If you hear him only from outside, you might reasonably be terrified. Then we have two others who are panic chihuahuas and little bitty. I think if you were to approach my home without permission you might think twice. It sounds like we probably have about seven or eight of them in here. You don't really know what's going to happen if you're able to like breach their defenses, so I hope that you know everyone listening will forget immediately that my house is not as well defended as it sounds.
Speaker 2:So our first case that we're going to talk about, I had a German Shepherd as a kid and he was like super protective, like they're a wonderful breed Not as cool as my pit bulls, but I do appreciate German Shepherds. So the first one we're going to talk about is Rex, the Hero Dog. So in Des Moines, iowa, there was a case involving Rex. Like I said, he was a German dog. So in Des Moines, iowa, there was a case involving Rex. Like I said, he was a German shepherd, and this occurred on February 21st of 2018. So it kind of began when two burglars broke into the home of 16-year-old Javier Mercado, who was alone with his two-year-old German shepherd, rex. So, upon hearing the sound of shattering glass from a sliding door downstairs, rex immediately rushed to the front to kind of confront the intruders and the brave dog engaged with the burglars, who beat him severely but, despite his injuries, rex was able to return upstairs to check on Javier, who was hiding in a closet while he was calling 911.
Speaker 3:So, as the burglars continued to ransack the house, room by room, they eventually reached the bedroom where Javier was hiding and Rex, though badly injured, mustered his remaining strength to protect his owner. The dog lunged at the intruders who then shot Rex multiple times. Rex was hit at least three times, with three different bullets, striking his neck, leg and knee. The sound of the approaching sirens scared off the burglars, who fled the scene before law enforcement arrived. When police entered the home, they found Javier safe in the closet, but Rex, who initially appeared lifeless, was the heroic dog at that point, rushed to Blue Pearl Veterinary Partners in Renton, washington, for emergency treatment.
Speaker 4:He survived the ordeal. After some serious medical care he had surgery to repair a fractured bone in his left hind leg with pins and screws. There was a GoFundMe that raised over $57,000 to cover his medical expenses, which I think I've seen a lot of human GoFundMes that don't have quite that kind of turnout, but he had pain medication, antibiotics, wound care, the whole nine yards. He was eventually able to return home to his family, that's awesome, I love that.
Speaker 3:And $57,000. I know vet bills are expensive, but holy heck.
Speaker 4:That's crazy, and $57,000.
Speaker 2:I know vet bills are expensive but holy heck that's crazy. That's like a human surgery, but it's the things we do for our pets. So I know with my dog, doc, the first fible I had. He was three-legged and he was amazing, but I probably had $30,000 in him by the time he passed and would spend every dime still. But so, as for the criminal investigation, police were still searching for the. As for the criminal investigation, police were still searching for the suspects after the incident and the authorities were trying to determine why this house was targeted, but no immediate arrests were reported. In the aftermath of the break-in and to aid in the investigation, a $50,000 reward was offered for information leading to the identification of the responsible shooters, but unfortunately they never actually caught these individuals. So though it doesn't have a good criminal justice finale, at least it does have.
Speaker 4:The kid was safe and the dog survived happy ending happy ending indeed, and just because you know, the bad guys didn't get caught. The more important part, um is everybody, even the dog, survived and we're able to continue on.
Speaker 2:So that's, that's a good, a good ending, I say and because of rex's bravery, uh, he was included in the heroic dog awards from pA. His story touched many hearts, highlighting the incredible bond between humans and canines. And God knows that I don't know. I think my dogs would kind of be more like the Instagram videos where the dog's like eating the cheese as you hear the person getting attacked in the background with a camera in its paw. That would be kind of mine, but I still think they love me. So that is the story of a hero dog. So I think the next story to me is kind of the more interesting one. The last one's really great, but this one, I think, is really interesting because it's a cat and it's from kind of my home city.
Speaker 3:So I was going to let Rachel do it, since she's like I'm not a cat person, I'm a dog person.
Speaker 4:I am a cat person and I lived in Indianapolis relatively recently, so I'll get us started on this one. This is the story of Binky, and I love this story. In June 2017, we had Cynthia Kutz in Indianapolis had a frightening attempted home invasion, thwarted by an unlikely hero her house cat named Pinky. It was about midnight and she was watching TV in her living room and heard a disturbance outside. She said she went to her garage, didn't find anything, went back inside and there was a man banging on her front patio window trying to convince her to let him in. Obviously a stranger at midnight, she's not going to do that, so she refused to open the door.
Speaker 4:The intruder, later identified as 41-year-old Earl Scruggs, became increasingly aggressive when she refused to let him in, so then he tried to come in through a window and then Binky, the cat, sort of sprang into action. So the intruder, his hand, came through the window and Binky, who is declawed but has sharp fangs, attacked the intruder's hand. He tried again to come back and Binky attacked him again, ending with significant injuries to the would-be burglar's hand and arm.
Speaker 2:Coots attempted to call 911 for help. However, she was initially put on hold, which added to her distress. So I kind of have a problem with this, but I think this is something that we've started to see more across the country is all areas of the criminal justice system seem to be really undermanned, understaffed and it's hard to get people. This was 2018. And, Rachel, I think you were saying something where you kind of ran into the same thing more recently.
Speaker 4:It was 2023-ish. I was driving down a road in Indianapolis and there was a person just laid out in the street surrounded by other people, but no apparent emergency response yet. So I pulled over and called 911 to make sure they were aware that there was somebody in the street. We need to have this checked out. I couldn't tell what had happened, but instead of 911, what is your emergency, which is what I'm accustomed to or what is the location of your emergency? I got an automated message that was like you have reached Indianapolis 911 services. Someone will be with you as soon as possible. And it was like a very long three or four minutes on hold before somebody even came along to sort of triage this emergency and luckily, by the time I did get them on the line, they said yes, they were aware and help was on the way and I started to hear a siren, so it was okay. But I am alarmed to hear this is a trend, at least in Indianapolis and, I'm assuming, not just there.
Speaker 3:I think it's happening more and more often. I know when I was in Colorado I was lucky because I was mostly in small jurisdictions and I got to sit in dispatch for a lot of time, which was really nice to see how things worked behind the scenes. And I was amazed when I was there how many phone calls they got that I wouldn't normally think they would get. People called 911 to ask what time court opened. People called 911 asking for phone numbers for various businesses and you know different services and things that you wouldn't normally think people would call 911 for. So I can definitely see where resources would be stretched thin.
Speaker 3:Luckily, where we were, they always had somebody to answer the phone. We were never bombarded with that much, I think, because as a rural community there weren't that many people. So even though you only had two dispatchers because you never wanted to have just one two were able to handle all of the calls who were coming in. But I did hear from one of my friends in Colorado Springs recently that they had a situation where people were trying to call 911. And I don't know exactly the details if they didn't get answered or if they didn't get the police dispatched in time, but it resulted in somebody losing their life and there was a lawsuit over it and, from what I understand, the result of the lawsuit basically was police can't be everywhere all the time and if they can't respond then they can't respond. It sets an interesting precedent, if that actually holds.
Speaker 4:They can't respond. It sets an interesting precedent. If that actually holds, it does, and I guess that makes sense, because we want our emergency services to be agile. We want them to be able to respond the best they can, and if they're more worried about being sued, then maybe they have to take a step back to cover themselves. So it's like public policy. I understand why we might move in that direction. As a member of the public who might need to call 911 because there's a person in you know, lying out in the road, that does cause me concern.
Speaker 2:And I think, especially like with my area of research, with like mass shootings and stuff, the three to four, even just three to four minutes, like you can have dozens of people wounded or killed in that short of time. So I mean I know there's new technologies that are coming along and stuff, but I think I couldn't imagine for this woman like three, four minutes and luckily you know who needs the cops when you have an ass kicking cat.
Speaker 4:Yeah really. Right? Well, not everyone is that lucky, and I am a cat person. We have currently four cats, but I always have a bunch of cats here. I don't think there's a single one of them I could count on to come to my defense, Like Binky. I think that's a very special cat. I love him. This is what from 2017? Is that right, so he could still be out there kicking ass and protecting his family? I hope he is.
Speaker 2:Yes, that would be wonderful.
Speaker 2:Right. So Coots reported that while she was trying to get through to police, Scruggs declared that well, I'm getting in, whether anybody likes it or not. But fortunately Binky repeatedly attacked Scruggs and kept him at bay until police arrived, and I do like the fact that it said significant wounds, so cat cutting in with their teeth. So uh, coots, was said, uh, quoted as saying. Well, next thing I knew, binky took off again and this time he tore the guy's hand and arm up. This time he held onto that guy as I was, and all I seen was fur going up. When you're trying to direct quote somebody sometimes it gets really mouthy.
Speaker 3:So when the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department officers reached the scene, they arrested Earl Shrugs for vandalism and residential entry. The officers were initially skeptical about a cat being responsible for his injuries, but the evidence was clear. Paramedics had to be called to treat his wounds inflicted by binky, which were described as severe enough to make his hand blow up like a balloon.
Speaker 2:Makes me wonder if he had like an allergy or something as well, but I don't know Could have been. Maybe cat's mouths are just really dirty.
Speaker 3:Could have been. Maybe cats' mouths are just really dirty. I've actually heard that. I've heard that they're like the second most bacteria-ridden mammal's mouth in existence, or something along those lines, which I thought, oh, that's interesting, like I'm glad the dogs are kissing us and not the cats.
Speaker 4:Speak for yourselves.
Speaker 2:I love my puppy kisses yes, I love my public kisses.
Speaker 4:Yes, I would note Coots had owned Binky for about six years at the time and said he had never been aggressive before. She described him as loyal best friend, protector and said she was surprised by his heroic actions. What I like about that is, you know it was a big news story, gained widespread attention and thinks Finkie is a hero, which obviously he is. So, yes, I think dogs probably have the numbers win on household protection, but you know, occasionally a cat can come through for us as well.
Speaker 3:Which is awesome. I love this. And at the end she made a statement, a message to other cat owners, and she said don't make your cat mean, don't hurt them to get them mean. Treat them like a normal cat. In the end, the cat will take up to you. No matter what, he'll be loyal to you, which I thought was awesome. And I tried to find anything about the outcome on the criminal justice side of it and, according to the news article that I found, it said that he was charged with a residential entry, which was a level six felony, but I couldn't actually find the outcome of the case as far as if he pled, if it went to trial or what his sentence might have been.
Speaker 2:Which doesn't surprise me at all. Indianapolis, just kind of like and I think that's the thing with sources and news articles and things like that where we try to look for things is, once it gets to that point, a lot of journalism nowadays and a lot of sources just kind of drop off, like you can check the police, slaughter and records and stuff, but none of us are in Indianapolis to go down and talk to a detective or anything, and that's kind of not what I do. So we'll give you the facts, but we can't like do the follow up and I like I love how this is a cat and a dog you know I'm big on both those but the last story I think maybe my favorite in history, because this is a squirrel that kicks a kid's ass. So I am all about this Like fuck a cat and dog. I need a squirrel, obviously like. So this is a story of joey, who I have deemed the badass squirrel.
Speaker 2:So in early 2017, adam and carmen, pearl of meridian idaho, took in an orphaned squirrel they named joey, found in a flower garden by a friend's daughter. Joy was approximately one week roughly when they got him um and still had his eyes closed, so the Pearls took to feeding him every two hours and keeping him alive while he was a helpless infant, with the goal of eventually setting him free. So Joey adapted well to this domestic life. He became very playful and affectionate. Adam, who found him kind of, described him as kind of like a cat, noting that he would run around for people's attention. He even trained himself to use a litter box and developed a taste for Whopper candies. So but one day he has to jump in action and take on the heroics of Binky the Cat.
Speaker 3:So on the day of the burglary, which was on Tuesday February, the 14th of 2017, adam Pearl returned home to find signs of a break-in and there was snow prints leading to the back of the house. Several doors were left open and there were scratches immediately around the gun safes locking area, so Adam immediately contacted the police department.
Speaker 2:I do kind of want to point here that I think there's like a real big, important takeaway from this is A he had his guns in a safe and one of the things we do know of a lot of guns that are illegally on the streets and bought and sold. Many of them come from home break-ins and entries and things like that. So I do give respect that this kind of points out like the importance of having a gun safe and keeping your guns locked up.
Speaker 3:Definitely I mean it's, and also with kids. It's always good to have those things locked away if you have kids around, and even if you don't have kids yourself, you never know when you might have kids visiting your home. So it's always good to have things like that accounted for and stored responsibly.
Speaker 4:Yeah, what we had had learned. Adam called the police. What we later learned is during the burglary attempt, joey the squirrel had confronted the intruder. So when the police officer, officer Turner, arrived to investigate the break-in, joey startled her by scurrying between her legs and she did some investigating. She returned several hours later having recovered stolen items and she also brought news about Joey's role in thwarting this crime. And what she told them is then the burglar was identified as a juvenile male with a history of run-ins with the police.
Speaker 4:So they found him, they started asking him questions and they noticed some visible scratches on his hands. So they asked him about the scratches and he confessed yeah, the damn thing kept attacking me, it wouldn't stop until I left. So he straight up admitted that the squirrel attack scared him because he wasn't expecting to have a squirrel come flying out of nowhere at him and that is the reason that he was stopped earlier than he wanted to be. He said he had entered three or four unlocked homes, but in the Pearl home he only stole two items before Joey got to him. It was a pack of cigarettes and a gun magazine full of bullets. So he said, due to Joey's unexpected assault, he only took what he could and left as fast as he could.
Speaker 2:I will have to say, if I was a police officer, called to a home and a squirrel started running through my legs, I would freak out. I've had a lot of weird animals, but the squirrel definitely would take the cake. And the fact that the squirrel like basically kicked this kid's ass, like let's just call it what it was it's pretty funny.
Speaker 3:So Officer Turner reported that the suspect would typically steal more items, but because of Joey's intervention his theft was limited. The juvenile was arrested and police recovered about 90% of the items from the four burglaries he had committed. Due to his status as a minor, the suspect's name was not released to the public.
Speaker 2:So again, that was kind of one of those sadly one of the stories that made you think like there's a reason you have locks on your doors. We see it with cars too people going through parking lots just trying every car door until they can get into one. A lot of takeaways from the story on keeping your guns locked up as well as locking your doors.
Speaker 3:And keeping attack squirrels.
Speaker 2:Yes, attack squirrels.
Speaker 4:Ideally, yes, and I have to imagine that, although his name has not been made public, I really like to picture this juvenile growing up and, you know, telling his kids or the neighbors, or a scared straight programmer or whoever right hey guys, no, listen, don't be stupid. I was stupid and here's the crazy stuff that happened to me. Maybe he's got scars, I don't know, but I hope that he is out there trying to encourage others to make different choices.
Speaker 2:I just imagine like you're in jail or prison and somebody is like how did you get caught? And you're like I got my ass kicked by a squirrel. Like how that goes down. Like these big bad, like gang members and stuff, were like yeah, man, I got caught by the police. I was chased for hours. I fought three of them. Man who caught you A squirrel?
Speaker 3:A squirrel, that's right. Can you imagine his nicknames?
Speaker 2:Joey's bitch. Yeah, joey's heroic act gained widespread attention, which, of course, a lot of these stories do. I mean, when animals do stuff like this, it catches media attention, with news outlets across the country reporting on the unusual story. Adam Pearl rewarded Joey with his favorite treat, which was Whopper's candies. First time I was like hoping it was a Whopper sandwich, but it's a candy, so the incident sparked conversations about unexpected home security measures. Despite Joey's newfound fame, the Pearls decided to follow through with their original plans, so they did release him in June of 2017, about four months after the burglary. So Joey said his goodbyes and was released back into the wild.
Speaker 4:I didn't know that people could do that successfully.
Speaker 2:I didn't either. Like I'm always worried, like when you domesticate an animal, like how it's really going to survive once you put it back out there.
Speaker 3:Mm-hmm, I think it depends on the species. Just from what I've seen, I know squirrels have memories.
Speaker 2:I had a cat that caught a squirrel out in our yard and the cat had half that squirrel in its mouth. Years later there are still squirrels running around my yard that when they see me will throw stuff out of the tree at me and that one squirrel used to throw stuff at the cat. They can remember stuff. They're like the crows of the four-legged animal world.
Speaker 4:Well, you know, it sounds like Joey was maybe a little more wild than most domesticated squirrels, if that's a thing, so maybe he was better suited to life back outdoors.
Speaker 2:I just kind of hope now he's out like solving crimes in neighborhoods. I just kind of hope now he's out like solving crimes in neighborhoods. He's got a little cape now and he's like flying across like power lines.
Speaker 4:He's actually just following around, that same unnamed juvenile, making sure that he stays on the straight and narrow. Now, like that's his own personal, like Jiminy Cricket, that's awesome.
Speaker 3:I love that.
Speaker 2:Just a video of two squirrel eyes at his window at night, like just staring at him Right, Just like points his fingers at his window at night like just staring at him Right, Just like points his fingers at his eyes and back and forth.
Speaker 2:I see you, that's amazing. But I think, like all of these like yeah, they're lighthearted stories I think when you really look at them there's a lot deeper scary, especially the first one. I mean, these people were armed with a gun. Obviously they were willing to kill somebody, they were willing to kill an animal and, as we know through psychology, a lot of people willing to harm animals are willing to kill humans. I think the good thing is everybody in these survived. There was a couple of stories that I had where either the animal didn't or the humans or the people didn't. A couple were parrots solved crimes and stuff. But I didn't want to do that. I wanted some lighthearted, like the animal survives, everybody survives, Even if somebody got away at least the kid survived Happily ever after.
Speaker 4:Yes, and although we don't have any info here about whether any of the animals were trained to do this, I mean, conceivably a German shepherd had some intended role in home security. I like I, a German Shepherd, had some intended role in home security. I like these stories because they just feel like family right. If someone breaks into your house, your mom, your dad, your uncle will step up and protect you, and apparently also your four-footed family members may as well.
Speaker 2:And I think it very much changes that concept of oh, they're just dumb pets Like. Oh no, obviously they have emotions, they can sense people's intentions, good or bad, and they can react. So does anybody else have anything they want to add to this episode? Before we wrap things up for the audience, Nothing that I can think of.
Speaker 4:Only that I'm going to tell my husband I think we need to get a squirrel.
Speaker 2:Are you sure he doesn't have any already? Never sure. Laying around in the backyard in foxholes just waiting to attack? Don't give him this idea, because if you tell your husband, heather tells her husband, then there's going to be an army of squirrels that are going to be trained, and it's just that would be hilarious. I still want to do it with crows, but so, rachel, it is good to have you back.
Speaker 4:Good to be back.
Speaker 2:And I hope you enjoyed this episode. Thank you for listening. I want to thank you all so much for listening to our little podcast. This is created with love and passion for criminal justice and true crime. So if you're enjoying the podcast, please follow us, like or rate us on whatever system you're listening to us on, subscribe to our podcast and download episodes. Downloads are important for our growth, as is growing our listeners.
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