She told investigators her son initially told her that he let the dog outside and it never came back.

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The boy's mother said a few weeks later, another dog vanished.

As the mother and her boyfriend started looking for the dog, they stumbled over a shallow grave in the backyard.

They discovered one of their dogs had been buried there with its head missing.

The mother's son admitted he killed the dog and buried it.

The boy, a Middleburg Elementary School student, is being held at the Duval Regional Juvenile Detention Center in Jacksonville.

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Members of the conversion crew take a break as the main scoreboard is lowered to the floor to be worked on as the arena gets ready for the next concert at State Farm Arena, Thursday, October 2, 2025, in Atlanta. The crew was working on creating a stage for the Friday, Oct. 3 Maxwell concert. (Jason Getz/AJC)

Credit: Jason Getz / Jason.Getz@ajc.com