Virginia: Michael Waddle, 34, is accused of beating an ex-girlfriend's dog so severely he bashed her skull in

VIRGINIA -- Michael Ryan Waddle, identified by police as the suspect in a brutal beating of a dog that had to be euthanized due to its injuries, is in jail after violating the conditions of his release earlier this week.

Waddle, 34, was arrested Monday and charged with a single felony count of breaking into the 1601 Fenton Avenue home of Kimberly Paula Hunt. He was released Monday after posting $10,000 secured bond.

However, Waddle, a resident of 1055 Dan River Church Road in Halifax, defied a court order barring him from making contact with the victim, confirmed South Boston Police Captain B.K. Lovelace. As a result, Waddle was picked up by police on Wednesday and is currently in jail awaiting his next hearing. No bond has been set for his release.

According to a police affidavit that accompanied the search warrant to his Dan River Church Road residence, Waddle was spotted Saturday by a neighbor of Hunt’s, who saw him entering the basement of her Fenton Street home. It was there that Hunt kept the dog while she was out of town.

Only later in the evening did she return home to find the pet so severely beaten that one of its eyes was dislodged from the socket. Blood was splattered on the walls of the basement, police noted in the search warrant affidavit.

Hunt, who moved to town in August, told police that she and Waddle had been dating but broke up on the day of the incident. She said in a separate interview yesterday that she had no inkling of hostility from Waddle. “We left [it] cordial as far as I know,” she said.

The front and back door to her home were locked, she said, but not the basement door.

Her pet, Noodles, was almost three years old, a sweet, fat hound, she said. “She used to roll around on the ground like a noodle when she was a puppy,” Hunt said.

Hunt said she returned home from Danville Saturday night around 9:30 to 10. After putting up groceries, she went down to the basement, where she discovered the attack.

Noodles was too grievously injured to survive the beating. She was put to sleep the next day.

While the search warrant cites cruelty to animals as a cause for entry to Waddle’s home, police have not charged him with the animal’s assault. Lovelace noted the investigation into the incident is ongoing.

The search warrant authorized police to search for a blunt instrument that could have been used in the attack, and signs of blood stains on objects or clothing. South Boston officers seized a hammer and t-shirt and took blood swab samples from a drill box, a boot and a 2005 Nissan registered to Waddle.

Hunt’s Fenton Street neighbor reported seeing the boyfriend enter the home’s basement with a drill or power tool case, but Hunt said yesterday that she did not believe the case was relevant to the investigation.

(SoVaNow - Oct 31, 2013)