Soldier, Humane Society At Odds Over Strangled Dogs

A Fort Carson soldier suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder went to court Thursday to face some some bizarre charges.

Arresting documents detail two separate occasions in which Brian Jones, 28, is accused of strangling and killing dogs to due to his struggle with “homicidal urges.”

“We conducted an interview with the individual, who then admitted to having strangled the dog,” said Joe Stafford, director of animal law enforcement with the Humane Society of the Pikes Peak Region.

“Mr. Jones stated that he has been hearing voices coming from his basement, and in an attempt to quell homicidal urges, he strangled the dogs, which gave him some temporary relief,” read part of the arrest affidavit.

One of the dogs was the family’s pet rat terrier. The other was a stray animal that Jones said he saw while driving through the neighborhood. According to the arrest papers, Jones pulled over, strangled the dog and put the body in a dumpster. The bodies of those dogs were never found, according to Stafford.

That supposed confession occurred in April, but Jones said at the time, he was in the midst of a terrible bout with PTSD.

“I basically didn’t know what was going on,” said Jones.

Jones said he told his therapist stories about strangling dogs. He said PTSD may have caused those hallucinations.

“I told her, ‘Look, things are not going so well,'” said Jones. “‘I’m having trouble sleeping, I haven’t slept in five days. I think I killed some dogs. I really need to get help'”

That conversation led to a 12-day stint in a mental health facility.

Jones said an animal control officer came to visit him on his first day the facility. That’s when Jones said humane society officers got the supposed confession out of him.

“I signed it without being cognizant of what was going on,” said Jones. “I said ‘Yeah, I understand it,’ but I wasn’t even in the right state of mind.”

Upon release from the mental facility, Jones was immediately arrested on charges of aggravated cruelty to animals, a class six felony.

“I didn’t even have a chance to plead my case,” said Jones. “I didn’t even have a say so. I was locked up.”

Jones said the mental therapy he’s been receiving since late April has helped him remember events more clearly.

“Apparently, we had a little dog here, but it ran away,” said Jones. “When I started taking my medication, I started remembering everything, and the time I thought I killed another dog, I was here with my wife.”

Jones said the Humane Society removed another dog from the house around the same time he was arrested.

“I had a Labrador here, but the Humane Society took it away,” said Jones. “There were no visible damage on that dog. He wasn’t malnourished or nothing. I loved that dog. The only reason we couldn’t keep it was because we could afford to get it back.”

A representative for Humane Society said the dog that was removed from the home with the consent of Mandy Jones, Brian Jones’ wife. The dog was hyper-aggressive and was not able to be adopted out because of behavior issues according to the Humane Society.

Jones’ wife also confirmed at least one strangulation incident, according to the arrest warrant. On Wednesday, she denied the story.

Brian Jones said he wants his neighbors to know he’s not a danger to the community.

“No one has anything to worry about. I’m not going to flip out and kill someone’s dogs or hurt anybody,” said Jones.