This just makes me sick.

I've been posting a lot of news articles lately, which is unintentional, but I just read this and felt sick to my stomach to wonder what kind of monster would do something like this.

M.C. puppy set on fire put to sleep

Police investigate 'heinous crime.'

STAN MADDUX
Tribune Correspondent

MICHIGAN CITY -- Andrea Davis said she woke up to police knocking on her door. Then she spotted her smoldering pit bull on the front porch.

Snoopy, her puppy, was set ablaze, possibly with gasoline, and had to be put to sleep.

Police were given a vague description of a possible culprit but had not made any arrests Wednesday.

"Obviously, we're very concerned. It's a heinous crime committed by someone who has a lot of problems," said Michigan City Assistant Police Chief John Kintzele.

Just before 1 a.m. Wednesday, a woman said she was smoking a cigarette on her front porch in the 300 block of Dewey Street and observed what appeared to be a dog on fire running across the street, according to police.

She also heard what sounded like a dog crying.

The woman called police, and officers located the badly burned 4 1/2-month-old animal coming out of some bushes.

According to police, Snoopy was not on a leash.

But, prior to being set ablaze, Davis said, her dog was on a leash tied to a stake in her fenced backyard.

The stake had been pulled out of the ground.

"I thought this was a nice neighborhood," said Davis, who just moved there about two months ago.

"I don't want another dog if I can't keep him in the backyard," she said.

Davis, 22, said her father took Snoopy to the animal clinic at Purdue University North Central near Westville, but the injuries were too severe.

She got the dog for her sons, ages 1 and 3, just before the start of summer.

"He was a real good dog. I wouldn't have traded him for the world," Davis said.

According to police, a search of the area led officers to a shed just a few doors away.

The doors were open and inside the shed was a gasoline can.

Police, hoping to determine if there was a link, knocked on the door and telephoned the residence but received no answer.

A male, possibly a juvenile, was seen by the witness as she spotted the dog on fire.

And police investigating the scene noticed a similar-looking male possibly on a bicycle.

"It's nothing we can make an arrest on. The investigation is just beginning," Kintzele said.

Davis said she had no idea why this occurred, but someone in the neighborhood reported the dog was regularly kept on a leash outside and barked and cried during all hours of the night, police said.