Vergas, MN – 19-year-old Bodi Ray Engebretson of Vergas has been charged for allegedly killing a neighbor’s dog earlier this year.
According to court documents, the Otter Tail County Sheriff’s Department received a report on July 1st, 2024 of a dog being shot the evening prior. Officials arrived to the residence, where the pet owner’s showed them where they believed the dog had been shot.
The owners said they let the dog out at 10 p.m. the previous night, and at 10:15 p.m., they heard their 3-year-old labradoodle squealing and whining. When they went to check on her, the canine was lying dead on the deck. The owner observed a small hole from a projectile, which he described as about the size of a .22 shell, behind the dog’s front shoulder, but neither he nor his wife had heard any gun shots.
Officials noted that the deck where the dog had died was barricaded in order to keep the dogs on the porch when let out at night, and believed that the suspect would have had to be in the backyard at a close distance to shoot the dog.
Later that day, officials received tips regarding Engebretson and his involvement in the incident, including that his father was upset that Engebretson had killed the neighbor’s dog and that he should take accountability for it.
Court documents say that Engebretson admitted to officials that he had shot the neighbor’s dog with an air gun that shoots .177 caliber pellets. However, he denied shooting it on the neighbor’s property, claiming that the dog was on his property when he grabbed his gun and shot it.
Engebretson has been charged with one felony count of Mistreating an Animal and made his first court appearance Monday morning (December 30th).
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