Missing dog, possibly held for ransom, found dead

BUFFALO, Minn. (KMSP) - A yellow Labrador retriever from Delano, who was possibly being held for ransom, was found dead weeks after going missing.

“I don’t feel safe in this community until he’s caught,” said Jason Davis, the dog’s owner. “If he can do it to a dog, he can do it to a human.”

In the two months since their dog, Lou, went missing from their home in Delano, there have been hundreds of leads. On Thursday, on a lake outside Buffalo, a tip from an ice fisherman solved one part of the mystery.

“I called him right away, I met him here yesterday morning and he drove me out to the island there and ah… brushed the snow off of Lou,” said Davis.

Lou had been shot twice and appeared to have been dead a couple weeks. It seemed as though he had not been killed on the island, but rather been placed there.

“That’s a sunken island and the guy who put that body there knew he would be underwater come spring,” said Davis.

Lou went missing in December. In January, Fox 9 reported how Davis and his wife began getting bizarre calls from someone who claimed to have the dog, wanted money and made a lot of threats.

They gave in, arranged a money drop, but never got their dog and they wondered if they were victims of a sick hoax.

“We’ve not ended the case on the guy who extorted money from us, that case is still ongoing,” said Davis. “He will be caught. We believe we have enough evidence here very soon to wrap this up and get that guy.”

Anyone with information on the case is asked to contact the Wright County Sheriffs Department at (763)682-7622 and U.S. Fugitive Apprehension Tipline (612)808-6656.