HANCOCK COUNTY, W.Va. --
A Hancock County man was arrested late Wednesday evening
after, police said, he mutilated and killed 29 dogs and
held a woman captive for several months.
Jeffrey Nally Jr., 19, is charged with 29 counts of animal
cruelty, one count of domestic battery and one count of
kidnapping.
Nally was taken into custody after a SWAT team converged
on his home at 1855 Orchard Lane. The home is in the north
end of the county, off Route 8.
The female victim was also removed without incident,
police said. She was a former girlfriend of the suspect
that had voluntarily moved into the home in December but
had since been the victim of physical and sexual abuse,
police said.
Officials in Hancock County became aware of the situation
Wednesday after the victim’s mother contacted the West
Virginia State Police. The victim’s mother told an officer
that Nally had stated that he would kill any officer that
showed up to arrest him. The woman also told police that
Nally threatened to kill the woman and himself.
Officials with the West Virginia State Police contacted
the Hancock County Sheriff’s Office to assemble a SWAT
team. The SWAT team was briefed on the matter and
converged on the house around 9 p.m.
After taking the suspect into custody and obtaining a
search warrant, police said they found 29 dead dogs on the
property. Some had been recently killed, officers
reported. Some of the carcasses were found buried in the
yard of the home, others were wrapped in plastic.
Police believe Nally began killing the animals in January.
“Mutilated, skinned, anything you can imagine,” said Chief
Deputy Todd Murray of the animals. “[Nally used]
everything from a crossbow, to a drill, saws to hammers.
There were several means he used to [mutilate and kill the
dogs].”
Murray added that it appeared the suspect used a different
tool to kill each dog.
According to court documents, officers even found two dogs
eyes in a mason jar.
"One dog had been shot several times. One dog had blunt
force trauma to the head. One dog, we think, had its neck
snapped," said Nicole Busick, Hancock County Dog Warden.
The dogs were killed inside of the home, according to
Murray. Police believe that Nally got pleasure from making
his victim watch as he tortured and killed the animals.
“After the dogs were killed, he would make her clean up,”
Murray said.
Three dogs were also found alive at the home. Police said
the female told them all three were also set to be killed.
One of the dogs rescued from the home was a black lab
puppy. It had siblings that were killed.
Nally used classified ads to locate and obtain the
animals, often finding people to willingly drop off their
pets thinking they had found a good home, police said.
Police reported that he had been given many of the animals
for free and had paid a small amount for the others.
"I'd like to give people the benefit of the doubt that
they didn't know what was going on," said Busick.
Most of the animals killed were puppies.
Police also recovered several guns inside the home. Police
said the guns were also purchased through classified
listings.
Nally was already under home confinement for having guns
as a convicted criminal. Police said they pulled weapons
from Nally's home back in June. In April 2010, he was
convicted of domestic battery.
Nally now faces more charges including kidnapping,
domestic battery and 29 counts of animal cruelty.
The three dogs recovered from the home were turned over to
county officials. The three animals were all quickly
adopted.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
