The second suspect charged with killing a lobsterman’s beloved dog in 2018 is now in custody after violating his bail conditions in August, authorities said.
Nathan Burke of Hancock was arrested during a domestic violence call in Gouldsboro, police there said. A dispatcher said he was taken into custody on Saturday afternoon.
Franky, a 6-year-old mix, belonged to Phillip Torrey of Winter Harbor.
In the fall of 2018, Burke and an associate were charged with aggravated cruelty to animals and a raft of other crimes after allegedly breaking into a Hancock County lobsterman’s home and killing his terrier-pug, Franky.
The brutal killing – the dog was shot in the throat, wrapped in plastic and dumped in a bay – spurred an outpouring of support for the owner, Phillip Torrey of Winter Harbor.
Both Burke and his associate, Justin Chipman, 24, of Steuben, had worked on Torrey’s boat.
Before the killing, Burke said that he didn’t like Franky and that one day the dog would “come up missing,” according to court documents. Torrey said Chipman didn’t like Franky because he had gotten into a fight with Chipman’s dog.
In November 2019, Chipman was found guilty of aggravated animal cruelty, burglary, theft by unauthorized taking or transfer and unauthorized use of property in connection with Franky’s death.
Burke, meanwhile, has been wanted since August 2019 for violating the conditions of his bail release.
On Saturday, Gouldsboro and Winter Harbor police, as well as the Maine Warden Service and Maine Marine Patrol, responded to a domestic violence call on Dyer Lane in Gouldsboro. There they found Burke, who was taken into custody “without incident,” police said.
Gouldsboro police, who disclosed the news in a Facebook post Saturday, did not specify what Burke had been charged with, beyond violating his conditions of release.
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