New Jersey 19-year-old Michelle Wankoff has been busted for animal cruelty and tampering with evidence, after bragging relentlessly about the brutal murder of her family’s dog last month.
Following a number of reports, investigators located and exhumed the body of the cruelly beaten animal for necropsy this week, and threw the teenager behind bars for the heartless crime she committed.
Prosecutors say an accomplice has also been charged for assisting Wankoff in removing the slain dog from her bedroom freezer chest where she had it hidden and concealing the corpse in a shallow grave close to the Wankoff residence.
The investigation was sparked by a tip that Michelle Wankoff was boasting around town about poisoning her family’s 9-year-old mutt, then bludgeoning it to death with a claw-hammer and shovel when it didn’t die from the first mistreatment.
Hers is one of the worst cases of intentional cruelty since twisted Texas veterinarian Kristen Lindsey lured a neighbor’s cat Tiger into a bear trap this spring, then shot him in the head with an arrow and posted a shameless selfie of the crime on Facebook.
Unfortunately, Dr. Lindsey was far more adept as concealing her victim’s body than Wankoff was, thus successfully confounding a grand jury and thwarting prosecution.
