A Thurston County man is in jail after police said he admitting to killing his girlfriend's tiny dog.
She says he's not a monster, but she's having a tough time coping with the loss of a pet she treated like a child.
“It was a blow,” said Alexis Matthews, the dog’s owner. “It was really shocking and unbelievable.”
Matthews came home last week to find her beloved 9-pound terrier, Gurl, dead.
The dog had been with Matthews' boyfriend, who claimed he was bathing her and she drowned -- but when he took her to a pet hospital, staff called police.
“The dog had been beaten, strangled,” said Anna Johnson, of the Thurston County Animal Services. “Her eyes were damaged and her neck twisted. And she had bruises all over her body.”
Officers arrested the boyfriend, 32-year-old David Gibson, who admitted he killed the dog. He faces felony animal cruelty charges. Gibson told officers he was jealous of Gurl.
Matthews was stunned by the crime.
"I hate how it happened,” Matthews said. “Just like the pain that she went through. It definitely weighs heavily on my mind like all the time. It's hard."
Matthews said Gibson is a veteran with three deployments to Iraq and suffers PTSD. She believes he needs treatment and not punishment. Still, her pain is almost too much to bear, she says.
"I see her everywhere … It's hard to think," she said. "I can't think about anything else. And it's just unbelievably overwhelming and hard for me."
David Gibson remains in the Thurston County Jail. Matthews said it will be a long time before she gets another dog.
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